work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5612,"",Reading,2003-07-29 00:00:00 UTC,"O, Montagu! forgive me, if I sing
Thy wisdom tempered with the milder ray
Of soft humanity, and kindness bland:
So wide its influence, that the bright beams
Reach the low vale where mists of ignorance lodge,
Strike on the innate spark which lay immersed,
Thick-clogged, and almost quenched in total night--
On me it fell, and cheered my joyless heart.
Unwelcome is the first bright dawn of light
To the dark soul; impatient, she rejects,
And fain would push the heavenly stranger back;
She loathes the cranny which admits the day;
Confused, afraid of the intruding guest;
Disturbed, unwilling to receive the beam,
Which to herself her native darkness shows.
The effort rude to quench the cheering flame
Was mine, and e'en on Stella could I gaze
With sullen envy, and admiring pride,
Till, doubly roused by Montagu, the pair
Conspire to clear my dull, imprisoned sense,
And chase the mists which dimmed my visual beam.
Oft as I trod my native wilds alone,
Strong gusts of thought would rise, but rise to die;
The portals of the swelling soul ne'er oped
By liberal converse, rude ideas strove
Awhile for vent, but found it not, and died.
Thus rust the Mind's best powers. Yon starry orbs,
Majestic ocean, flowery vales, gay groves,
Eye-wasting lawns, and heaven-attempting hills
Which bound th' horizon, and which curb the view;
All those, with beauteous imagery, awaked
My ravished soul to ecstasy untaught,
To all the transport the rapt sense can bear;
But all expired, for want of powers to speak;
All perished in the mind as soon as born,
Erased more quick than cyphers on the shore,
O'er which cruel waves, unheedful roll.
Such timid rapture as young Edwin seized,
When his lone footsteps on the Sage obtrude,
Whose noble precept charmed his wondering
Such rapture filled Lactilla's vacant soul,
When the bright Moralist, in softness dressed,
Opes all the glories of the mental world,
Deigns to direct the infant thought, to prune
The budding sentiment, uprear the stalk
Of feeble fancy, bid idea live,
Woo the abstracted spirit form its cares,
And gently guide her to scenes of peace.
Mine was than balm, and mine the grateful heart,
Which breathes its thanks in rough, but timid strains.
(ll. 30-79, pp. 395-6)",,14997,•I've included all the stanzas but the first because of the density of metaphors (8 entries total).,"""Yon starry orbs, / Majestic ocean, flowery vales, gay groves, / Eye-wasting lawns, and heaven-attempting hills / Which bound th' horizon, and which curb the view; / All those, with beauteous imagery, awaked / My ravished soul to ecstasy untaught, / To all the transport the rapt sense can bear; / But all expired, for want of powers to speak; / All perished in the mind as soon as born, / Erased more quick than cyphers on the shore, / O'er which cruel waves, unheedful roll.""",Writing,2013-11-17 17:14:56 UTC,""
5895,"",HDIS,2004-01-02 00:00:00 UTC,"Salt of the earth, ye virtuous few,
Who season human-kind;
Light of the world, whose cheering ray
Illumes the realms of mind:
(ll. 1-4, p. 136)",,15653,"•Written in response to the Reign of Terror. Published in The Monthly Magazine, 4 July 1797","""Light of the world, whose cheering ray / Illumes the realms of mind""","",2009-09-14 19:44:14 UTC,""
6042,"","Reading a chapter draft of Matt Garrett's dissertation (Chapt 1, p. 27); now published, see Episodic Poetics (Oxford UP, 2014), p. 38.",2006-03-02 00:00:00 UTC,"These sudden eruptions of the passions of the multitude, spread, like the lava of a volcano, throughout all France, nor could men of correct judgment, who aimed only at the reform of abuses, and a renovation in all the departments, check the fury of the torrent. This confusion and terror within, and an army without, sent on by the combined despots of Europe, with the professed design of subjecting the nation, and re-establishing the monarchy of France, gave an opportunity to ambitious, unprincipled, corrupt, and ignorant men, to come forward, under pretence of supporting the rights and liberties of mankind, without any views but those of disorder and disorganization. Thus in the midst of tumult and confusion, was indulged every vicious propensity, peculation, revenge, and all the black passions of the soul. The guillotine was glutted with the blood of innocent victims, while the rapidity of execution, and their jealousy of each other, involved the most guilty, and cut down many of the blackest miscreants, as well as the most virtuous characters in the nation.
(III.xxxi, p. 407; p. 682-3 in OLL edition)",,16026,"•INTEREST. Should search ""lava"" and ""volcano."" I bet these react to the historical (natural) environment more than many of my other metaphors. ","""These sudden eruptions of the passions of the multitude, spread, like the lava of a volcano, throughout all France, nor could men of correct judgment, who aimed only at reform of abuses, and a renovation in all the departments, check the fury of the torrent.""","",2014-05-20 17:09:24 UTC,"Volume III, chapter xxxi"
6071,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"Oh! horrid Night!
Thou prying Monitor confest!
Whose key unlocks the human breast,
And bares each avenue to mental sight!
When from the festive bow'r
The frenzied Homicide retreats,
And, in his bosom's cell,
Essays each rising throb to quell;
Thy penetrating pow'r
His sense with many a Phantom greets;
He rushes forth in wild amaze!
While down his brow the big drop strays;
Then, from thy mist opaque,
Deep groans assail his startled ears,
His limbs convuls'd with horror shake,
And the short fev'rish Hour,
Such is thy dreadful pow'r!
An Age of agonizing woe appears;
For Sleep the vengeful fiends deride,
Till the blest Sun darts forth to bid thy reign subside!",,16071,•I've included twice: Lock and Avenue,"""Oh! horrid Night! / Thou prying Monitor confest! / Whose key unlocks the human breast, / And bares each avenue to mental sight!""","",2013-11-02 15:20:09 UTC,""
6729,"",Contributed by PC Fleming,2010-06-25 12:24:54 UTC,"The truth is, that useful knowledge cannot be obtained without labour, that attention long continued is laborious, but that without this labour nothing excellent can be accomplished. Excite a child to attend in earnest for a short time, his mind will be less fatigued, and his understanding will be more improved, than if he had exerted but half the energy twice as long: the degree of pain which he may have felt will be amply and properly compensated by his success; this will not be an arbitrary variable reward, but one within his own power, and that can be ascertained by his own feelings. Here no deceit is practised, no illusion; the same course of conduct may be regularly pursued through the whole of his education, and his confidence in his tutor will be progressively increased. On the contrary, if, to entice him to enter the paths of knowledge, we strew them with flowers, how will he feel when he must force his way through thorns and briars?
(Vol. I, p. 54)",,17904,"","""On the contrary, if, to entice him to enter the paths of knowledge, we strew them with flowers, how will he feel when he must force his way through thorns and briars?""","",2010-06-29 03:46:46 UTC,"Vol. I, Chapter 2, ""Tasks"""
6749,"","Contributed by PC Fleming, searching ""heart.""",2010-07-17 15:45:25 UTC,"This alone was sufficient grounds for the old waiting gentlewoman to persuade Regentina, that this was the husband destined by the Oracle, because he would not take the Princess without green, not on account of his disdaining to wear green, but that it was not in his power to do so, notwithstanding all his efforts; which, in her mind, made a material difference in the meaning of the Oracle. Regentina remained speechless and confused, at the pitiful result of such pompous preliminaries. Those who were well acquainted with the world and the Court, agreed, that the heart of woman was an inexplicable abyss; and all remarked the novelty of this sentiment. The philosophers alone found it simple and natural. They remembered the tale of, The way to please the ladies, written by one of their fraternity; and thought it common enough for a woman of sense to prefer a coxcomb, whom she could govern as she liked, to a man, who would always surpass her, in spite of her and himself too, by possessing qualities too eminent. (Vol. II, pages 88-9)",,17976,"","""Those who were well acquainted with the world and the Court, agreed, that the heart of woman was an inexplicable abyss; and all remarked the novelty of this sentiment.""","",2010-07-17 15:45:25 UTC,Con. XIV
7159,"","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",2012-01-09 22:33:29 UTC,"'Well, Sir, you say the passions are dangerous, I believe they are useful, and only rebellious, when we would give them false, meanings, or render them subservient to poor convenience. The passions are the wings of spirit. Cold tranquillity the grave of thought. Turn you eyes to my convent! Even there the passions reign; but they rove through the mind like murmuring, winds through barren and gloomy regions.""
(I, p. 190)",,19433,"","""Even there the passions reign; but they rove through the mind like murmuring, winds through barren and gloomy regions.""","",2012-01-09 22:33:29 UTC,""
7439,"",Searching in C-H Lion,2013-06-14 04:52:30 UTC,"When capable of recollection, she knew that towards those whom he had once pardoned, he was incapable of reproach or unkindness; and her mind, eased of the fears which had so long harrassed it, seemed to be recovering it's tone. Still, however, the sense of her own incurable unhappiness, her own irretrievable unworthiness, and the disgrace of having sullied the honour of her family, and given pain to such a brother, overwhelmed her with grief and confusion; while her reason, as it at intervals returned, served only to shew her the abyss into which she had fallen; and she sometimes even regretted those hours of forgetfulness, when she possessed not the power of steady reflection, and when the sad reality was obliterated by wild and imaginary horrors.
(III, p. 141)",,20665,"","""Still, however, the sense of her own incurable unhappiness, her own irretrievable unworthiness, and the disgrace of having sullied the honour of her family, and given pain to such a brother, overwhelmed her with grief and confusion; while her reason, as it at intervals returned, served only to shew her the abyss into which she had fallen; and she sometimes even regretted those hours of forgetfulness, when she possessed not the power of steady reflection, and when the sad reality was obliterated by wild and imaginary horrors.""","",2013-06-14 04:52:30 UTC,""
7591,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,2013-08-16 06:14:56 UTC,"When Seymour reflected on what had past, he was not much displeased at the recollection of the cause of Julia's emotion at dinner; nor was he concerned at the information that she looked pale on the day of his marriage, and that her colour went and came during the last stage. Such is the selfishness, the inconsistency of passion, that Seymour, though he would chearfully have sacrificed his life to save Julia the slightest uneasiness, would yet willingly have excited in her mind those sensations which overwhelmed his own with anguish, and have been soothed by acquiring an influence over her heart, which, he well knew, would never, in the smallest degree, affect her conduct; and which, indeed, his own principles of honor, and a respect for her character, which amounted almost to idolatry, prevented him even from wishing it should. He might, therefore, have reflected, that any sensibility to his passion, could only serve to involve her in a degree of misery, which was almost insupportable to himself. But, the region of passion is a land of despotism, where reason exercises but a mock jurisdiction; and is continually forced to submit to an arbitrary tyrant, who, rejecting her fixed and temperate laws, is guided only by the dangerous impulse of his own violent and uncontroulable wishes.
(II.xxi, pp. 17-18)",,22193,"","""But, the region of passion is a land of despotism, where reason exercises but a mock jurisdiction; and is continually forced to submit to an arbitrary tyrant, who, rejecting her fixed and temperate laws, is guided only by the dangerous impulse of his own violent and uncontroulable wishes.""",Empire,2013-08-16 06:14:56 UTC,"Vol. II, Chap. xxi"
5612,"",Reading,2013-11-17 17:12:25 UTC,"O, Montagu! forgive me, if I sing
Thy wisdom tempered with the milder ray
Of soft humanity, and kindness bland:
So wide its influence, that the bright beams
Reach the low vale where mists of ignorance lodge,
Strike on the innate spark which lay immersed,
Thick-clogged, and almost quenched in total night--
On me it fell, and cheered my joyless heart.
Unwelcome is the first bright dawn of light
To the dark soul; impatient, she rejects,
And fain would push the heavenly stranger back;
She loathes the cranny which admits the day;
Confused, afraid of the intruding guest;
Disturbed, unwilling to receive the beam,
Which to herself her native darkness shows.
The effort rude to quench the cheering flame
Was mine, and e'en on Stella could I gaze
With sullen envy, and admiring pride,
Till, doubly roused by Montagu, the pair
Conspire to clear my dull, imprisoned sense,
And chase the mists which dimmed my visual beam.
Oft as I trod my native wilds alone,
Strong gusts of thought would rise, but rise to die;
The portals of the swelling soul ne'er oped
By liberal converse, rude ideas strove
Awhile for vent, but found it not, and died.
Thus rust the Mind's best powers. Yon starry orbs,
Majestic ocean, flowery vales, gay groves,
Eye-wasting lawns, and heaven-attempting hills
Which bound th' horizon, and which curb the view;
All those, with beauteous imagery, awaked
My ravished soul to ecstasy untaught,
To all the transport the rapt sense can bear;
But all expired, for want of powers to speak;
All perished in the mind as soon as born,
Erased more quick than cyphers on the shore,
O'er which cruel waves, unheedful roll.
Such timid rapture as young Edwin seized,
When his lone footsteps on the Sage obtrude,
Whose noble precept charmed his wondering.
Such rapture filled Lactilla's vacant soul,
When the bright Moralist, in softness dressed,
Opes all the glories of the mental world,
Deigns to direct the infant thought, to prune
The budding sentiment, uprear the stalk
Of feeble fancy, bid idea live,
Woo the abstracted spirit form its cares,
And gently guide her to scenes of peace.
Mine was than balm, and mine the grateful heart,
Which breathes its thanks in rough, but timid strains.
(ll. 30-79, pp. 395-6)",,23223,Added. Had skipped this verse paragraph on first reading.,"""O, Montagu! forgive me, if I sing / red with the milder ray / Of soft humanity, and kindness bland: / So wide its influence, that the bright beams / Reach the low vale where mists of ignorance lodge, / Strike on the innate spark which lay immersed, / Thick-clogged, and almost quenched in total night.""","",2013-11-17 17:12:25 UTC,""