The opening-verse is by way of an introduction. But the wordplay of 'face' and 'curls', and 'dawn' and 'night', reminds us of the fact that there's no contradiction between a 'sorrow-arousing' theme, and wordplay. The classical poet remains aware of every possibility of language. If the theme is superficial, into it too he tries to put life; and the necessity for wordplay is an example of this effort.
