Still to be neat, still to be dressed

In “Still to be neat,” Jonson repetitively lists tasks to emphasize the exorbitant nature of the woman’s routine in the poetic voice’s mind. The poem opens with a speaker detailing some of the tasks that the subject of the poem, a woman, needs to accomplish to be ready to be seen in public. First, she must get dressed; next, she must apply cosmetics: She must still “be powdered” and “perfumed” (Line 3). By individually listing each task, the speaker emphasizes the extended routine in which the woman is indulging; this listing also makes the process of readying oneself appear tedious or dull to an outside—and male—observer. When the speaker compares the lady’s look to what she would wear as if she “were going to a feast” (Line 2), he suggests that her dress is overly elaborate and inappropriate for what she is actually about to do; he is critical of her for this overindulgence in her appearance.

The poetic voice of the speaker is a defining feature of the poem. By writing as if he were speaking to another person, Jonson uses the second person pronoun “you” to speak to his audience. As a result, the poem initially feels like a direct address to the listeners, which originally was a theatrical audience.