How about a madrigal for one of Wednesdays’ lighter Poems of the Day? The English madrigals of the 17th and even 18th centuries are curious things. As a musical form, madrigals began in Italy in the 15th century, mostly as multi-voice secular songs composed for court performances. From there they passed to northern Europe, arriving late in England, as so much did. By the time the English had adopted the form, it had already faded in Italy — but after serving an important function in the Renaissance transition of music from the medieval to the baroque. Madrigals, for example, taught composers the notion of tone painting, the matching of the music to the lyrics: rising in pitch when the lyrics speak of the sun rising, for example. Today’s poem, “Man Is for a Woman Made” comes from Thomas Scott’s 1695 play, “The Mock Marriage.” Among the incidental music added to the play was a madrigal with words by the minor poet and translator Peter Anthony Motteux (1663–1718) and music by Henry Purcell (1659–1695)—and it would prove an enduring English song for soloists, with dozens of modern recordings. Purcell’s bouncy tune brought out the jaunty, risqué images in the verses.

Man Is for a Woman Made
by Peter Anthony Motteux

Man is for the woman made,
And the woman made for man;
As the spur is for the jade,
As the scabbard for the blade,
As for digging is the spade,
As for liquor is the can,
So man is for the woman made,
And the woman made for man.

As the scepter to be sway’d,
As for night’s the serenade,
As for pudding is the pan,
And to cool us is the fan,
So man is for the woman made,
And the woman made for man.

Be she widow, wife or maid,
Be she wanton, be she stayed,
Be she well or ill array’d,
Whore, bawd or harridan,
Yet man is for the woman made,
And the woman made for man.

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With “Poem of the Day,” The New York Sun offers a daily portion of verse selected by Joseph Bottum with the help of the North Carolina poet Sally Thomas, the Sun’s associate poetry editor. Tied to the day, or the season, or just individual taste, the poems will be typically drawn from the lesser-known portion of the history of English verse. In the coming months we will be reaching out to contemporary poets for examples of current, primarily formalist work, to show that poetry can still serve as a delight to the ear, an instruction to the mind, and a tonic for the soul.