I found the following poem in one of the many books that I have read in the last year or so. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a romantic and considering the times he lived in; I think this is a most interesting poem. Read it through, see what you think. I thought it insightful in some ways.
Man and Woman
By
Victor Hugo
The Man is the most elevated of creatures,
The Woman is the most sublime of ideals.
God made for the Man a throne; for the Woman an altar.
The throne exalts; the alter sanctifies.
The Man is the brain; the Woman is the heart.
The brain creates light; the heart creates love.
Light engenders; love resurrects.
The Man is strong because of his reason.
The Woman is invincible through her tears.
Reason is convincing; tears are deeply touching.
The Man is capable of all heroism.
The Woman – of all sacrifice.
Heroism ennobles; sacrifice brings all that is sublime.
The Man has supremacy, the Woman, intuition.
Supremacy represents strength.
Intuition represents righteousness.
The Man is a genius, the Woman, an angel.
Genius is immeasurable, the angel ineffable.
The Man aspires towards supreme glory.
The Woman aspires towards perfect virtue.
The Glory creates all that is great; the virtue, all that is divine.
The Man is a code; the Woman is a gospel.
A code corrects, the gospel perfects.
The Man thinks; the Woman dreams.
To think is to have a superior brain.
To dream is to have a halo on the brow.
The Man is an ocean, the Woman a lake.
The ocean has the adorning pearl; the lake, dazzling poetry.
The Man is a flying eagle, the Woman, a singing nightingale.
To fly is to conquer space; to sing is to conquer the soul.
The Man is a temple; the Woman a shrine.
Before a temple we uncover our head; before a shrine we kneel.