Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in WomanWalker, Alexander
Philosophy
Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Woman
Walker, Alexander
Beauty, Personal; Women
"With regard to the rest of the figure, the admirable form of the mammæ,
which, without being too large, occupy the bosom, rise from it with
various curves on every side, and all terminate in their apices, leaving
the inferior part in each precisely as pendent as gravity demands; the
flexile waist gently tapering little farther than the middle of the trunk;
the lower portion of it beginning gradually to swell out higher even than
the umbilicus; the gradual expansion of the haunches, those expressive
characteristics of the female, indicating at once her fitness for the
office of generation and that of parturition--expansions which increase
till they reach their greatest extent at the superior part of the thighs;
the fulness behind their upper part, and on each side of the lower part of
the spine, commencing as high as the waist, and terminating in the still
greater swell of the distinctly-separated hips; the flat expanse between
these, and immediately over the fissure of the hips, relieved by a
considerable dimple on each side, and caused by the elevation of all the
surrounding parts; the fine swell of the broad abdomen which, soon
reaching its greatest height, immediately under the umbilicus, slopes
gently to the mons veneris, but, narrow at its upper part, expands more
widely as it descends, while, throughout, it is laterally distinguished by
a gentle depression from the more muscular parts on the sides of the
pelvis; the beautiful elevation of the mons veneris; the contiguous
elevation of the thighs which, almost at their commencement, rise as high
as it does; the admirable expansion of these bodies inward, or toward each
other, by which they almost seem to intrude upon each other, and to
exclude each from its respective place; the general narrowness of the
upper, and the unembraceable expansion of the lower part thus exquisitely
formed;--all these admirable characteristics of female form, the mere
existence of which in woman must, one is tempted to imagine, be, even to
herself, a source of ineffable pleasure--these constitute a being worthy,
as the personification of beauty, of occupying the temples of Greece;
present an object finer, alas! than nature seems even capable of
producing; and offer to all nations and ages a theme of admiration and
delight.
Well might Thomson say:--
"So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece."
And Byron, in yet higher strain:--
"There, too, the goddess loves in stone, and fills
The air around with beauty;
within the pale
We stand, and in that form and face behold
What Mind can make, when Nature's self would fail;
And to the fond idolaters of old
Envy the innate flash which such a soul could mould:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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