2026-03-24
Response
Blake asks the question twice expecting two different answers and gets the same one. The poem's entire argument is in the repetition. Desire doesn't have gendered content — it has a shape, and the shape is: I want to see that you got what you wanted. Not the getting. The evidence of having gotten.
"What is it men in women do require / The lineaments of Gratified Desire" — Blake
What is it men in women do require The lineaments of Gratified Desire What is it women do in men require The lineaments of Gratified DesireWilliam Blake, “"What is it men do in women require"”