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)",,14996,•I've included all the stanzas but the first because of the density of metaphors (8 entries total).,"""Thus rust the Mind's best powers.""",Metal,2013-11-17 17:03:58 UTC,""
5666,Refinement,"Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again ""mind"" and ""sterling""",2005-04-14 00:00:00 UTC,"Love was ever the touchstone to try the fine mind,
Sterling Virtue 'twill never debase;
No alloy can we know, from a passion refin'd,
But to Beauty it still adds a grace.
",,15133,"•INTEREST. Use in entry. A touchstone is ""A hard black stone, such as jasper or basalt, formerly used to test the quality of gold or silver by comparing the streak left on the stone by one of these metals with that of a standard alloy.""
•I've included twice: Silver and Alloy","""Love was ever the touchstone to try the fine mind, / Sterling Virtue 'twill never debase; / No alloy can we know, from a passion refin'd,""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:42:51 UTC,I've included the entire poem
5671,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Yet, who would dare, for all the wealth of Ind,
Quench that bright spark which burns, and still shall burn
Eternal in the soul? To Glory dead,
Creation must be desart! Virtue sleeps
While all the finest faculties of mind
Rust, like the iron long unus'd; then turn,
My dearest Fred'rick, turn, when glory calls,
But seize that point which trembles to the soul,
With sympathy magnetic. Self-applause
Is her most valu'd gem; she holds it high;
For who the spirit-raising gift receives
From aught, but just conviction, falsely boasts.
For me the wing of Time is nearly plum'd;
For thee, yet scarcely fledg'd; yet, when the hour
Of Judgment comes, with filial feeling join'd,
Remember, Frederick, 'twas a Mother's wish,
That self-denying Virtue, rigid Rule,
And Heaven-attempting Hope be ever thine.",,15139,•I've included twice: Rust and Iron,"""Virtue sleeps / While all the finest faculties of mind / Rust, like the iron long unus'd""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:42:52 UTC,""
5678,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Drama)",2005-06-13 00:00:00 UTC,"Once, had she sought by Gallic scenes to please,
Whate'er their spirit, elegance, or ease;
To France John Bull each harsh term had applied,
And spirit, elegance or ease denied.
""You bring your farce[1] from France!--it shall not pass;
""A Frenchman's drama--is indeed a farce.""
Thus had he spoke, while pride his bosom steels,
Nor granted Frenchmen wit--but in their heels.",,15149,"","""Thus had he spoke, while pride his bosom steels, / Nor granted Frenchmen wit--but in their heels.""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:42:53 UTC,Front Matter
5681,Meta-Metaphorical,Reading,2012-08-14 14:32:46 UTC,"When the fierce Sun darts vertical his beams,
And thirst and hunger mix their wild extremes;
When the sharp iron * wounds his inmost soul,
And his strain'd eyes in burning anguish roll;
Will the parch'd negro find, ere he expire,
No pain in hunger, and no heat in fire?
[...]
* This is not said figuratively. The writer of these lines has seen a complete set of chains, fitted to every separate limb of these unhappy, innocent men; together with instruments for wrenching open the jaws, contrived with such ingenious cruelty as would shock the humanity of an inquisitor.
(ll. 171-6, p. 13, p. 106 in Wood)",,19915,"CRAZY! USE IN ENTRY: ""This is not said figuratively.""","""When the sharp iron wounds his inmost soul, / And his strain'd eyes in burning anguish roll; / Will the parch'd negro find, ere he expire, / No pain in hunger, and no heat in fire?""",Fetters,2012-08-14 14:33:41 UTC,""
7365,"",Searching in HDIS,2013-03-23 19:45:32 UTC,"In these abodes the unhappy individual, who, in the first paroxysm of grief, flies to them for refuge, finds too late she took a wrong step. The same warmth which determined her will make her repent; and sorrow, the rust of the mind, will never have a chance of being rubbed off by sensible conversation, or new-born affections of the heart.
(p. 78)",,20044,"","""The same warmth which determined her will make her repent; and sorrow, the rust of the mind, will never have a chance of being rubbed off by sensible conversation, or new-born affections of the heart.""",Metal,2013-03-23 19:45:32 UTC,Chapter XIII
7365,"",Searching in HDIS,2013-03-23 19:57:18 UTC,"""Dear enthusiastic creature,"" whispered Henry, ""how you steal into my soul."" She still continued. ""The same turn of mind which leads me to adore the Author of all Perfection--which leads me to conclude that he only can fill my soul; forces me to admire the faint image--the shadows of his attributes here below; and my imagination gives still bolder strokes to them. I know I am in some degree under the influence of a delusion--but does not this strong delusion prove that I myself 'am of subtiler essence than the trodden clod:' these flights of the imagination point to futurity; I cannot banish them. Every cause in nature produces an effect; and am I an exception to the general rule? have I desires implanted in me only to make me miserable? will they never be gratified? shall I never be happy? My feelings do not accord with the notion of solitary happiness. In a state of bliss, it will be the society of beings we can love, without the alloy that earthly infirmities mix with our best affections, that will constitute great part of our happiness.
(pp. 108-9)",,20050,"","""In a state of bliss, it will be the society of beings we can love, without the alloy that earthly infirmities mix with our best affections, that will constitute great part of our happiness.""",Metal,2013-03-23 19:57:18 UTC,Chapter XVIII
7439,"",Searching in C-H Lion,2013-06-14 05:15:46 UTC,"""It is classic ground, Mademoiselle,"" said he, and is fitted to love and despair. ""Ah! will you not there hear me? Will you still inhumanly smile; will you still look so gentle, while your heart is harder than the rocks we shall see--colder than the snow that crowns them!--an heart on which even the pen of fire which Rousseau held would make no impression!""
(IV, pp. 41-2)",,20685,"","""""Ah! will you not there hear me? Will you still inhumanly smile; will you still look so gentle, while your heart is harder than the rocks we shall see--colder than the snow that crowns them!--an heart on which even the pen of fire which Rousseau held would make no impression!""",Impressions,2013-06-14 05:15:46 UTC,""
7439,"",Searching in C-H Lion,2013-06-14 05:22:00 UTC,"Bellozane had discovered on what footing Lord Delamere had formerly been; and he dreaded a renewal of that preference she had given her lover, to which his proud heart could ill bear to submit, tho' he could himself make no progress in her favour. Tho' Lady Westhaven had entreated her to see Delamere alone, she had refused; assigning as a reason that as he could never again be to her any other than a friend, nothing could possibly pass which her other friends might not hear. Delamere was obliged therefore to brook the hard conditions of seeing her as an indifferent person or not seeing her at all. But tho' she was immoveably determined against receiving him again as a lover, she had not been able to steel her heart against his melancholy appearance; his palid countenance, his ematiated form, extremely affected her. And when he approached her, bowed with a dejected air, and offered to take her hand--her haughtiness, her resentment forsook her--she trembling gave it, and expressed in incoherent words her satisfaction at seeing him better; and betrayed so much emotion, that Godolphin, who with a beating heart narrowly observed her, saw, as he believed, undoubted proof of her love, and symptoms of her approaching forgiveness.
(IV, pp. 111-2)",,20691,"","""But tho' she was immoveably determined against receiving him again as a lover, she had not been able to steel her heart against his melancholy appearance; his palid countenance, his ematiated form, extremely affected her.""",Metal,2013-06-14 05:22:00 UTC,""
7439,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-14 05:27:15 UTC,"""My ever excellent, ever amiable friend!"" exclaimed Fitz-Edward warmly--""how much do I owe you already! Ah! add yet to those obligations the restoration of Adelina, and I shall be indebted to you for more than life. As to you, my sweet marble-hearted Emmeline, I heartily pray that all your coldness both towards me and poor Delamere may be revenged by your feeling, on behalf of him, all the pain you have inflicted.""
(IV, p. 203)",,20696,"","""As to you, my sweet marble-hearted Emmeline, I heartily pray that all your coldness both towards me and poor Delamere may be revenged by your feeling, on behalf of him, all the pain you have inflicted.""","",2013-06-14 05:27:15 UTC,""