work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3258,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-12 00:00:00 UTC,"The theatre for a young poet's rhymes
Is a bold venture in our knowing times:
An author cannot easily purchase fame;
Critics are always apt to hiss, and blame:
You may be judged by every ass in town,
The privilege is bought for half-a-crown.
To please, you must a hundred changes try;
Sometimes be humble, then must soar on high;
In noble thoughts must everywhere abound,
Be easy, pleasant, solid, and profound;
To these you must surprising touches join,
And show us a new wonder in each line;
That all, in a just method well-designed,
May leave a strong impression in the mind.
These are the arts that tragedy maintain:",,8587,"","Surprising touches and ""a just method well-designed, / May leave a strong impression in the mind""",Impressions,2011-06-06 03:00:41 UTC,""
3322,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"""His fear at length dismissed, he said,--'Whate'er
My fate ordains, my words shall be sincere:
I neither can nor dare my birth disclaim;
Greece is my country, Sinon is my name.
Though plunged by Fortune's power in misery,
'Tis not in Fortune's power to make me lie.
If any chance has hither brought the name
Of Palamedes, not unknown to fame,
Who suffered from the malice of the times,
Accused and sentenced for pretended crimes,
Because the fatal wars he would prevent;
Whose death the wretched Greeks too late lament--
Me, then a boy, my father, poor and bare
Of other means, committed to his care,
His kinsman and companion in the war.
While Fortune favoured, while his arms support
The cause, and ruled the counsels of the court,
I made some figure there; nor was my name
Obscure, nor I without my share of fame.
But when Ulysses, with fallacious arts,
Had made impression in the people's hearts,
And forged a treason in my patron's name
(I speak of things too far divulged by fame),
My kinsman fell. Then I, without support,
In private mourned his loss, and left the court.
Mad as I was, I could not bear his fate
With silent grief, but loudly blamed the state,
And cursed the direful author of my woes.--
'Twas told again; and hence my ruin rose.
I threatened, if indulgent heaven once more
Would land me safely on my native shore,
His death with double vengeance to restore.
This moved the murderer's hate; and soon ensued
The effects of malice from a man so proud.
Ambiguous rumours through the camp he spread,
And sought, by treason, my devoted head;
New crimes invented; left unturned no stone,
To make my guilt appear, and hide his own;
Till Calchas was by force and threatening wrought--
But why--why dwell I on that anxious thought?
If on my nation just revenge you seek,
And 'tis to appear a foe, to appear a Greek;
Already you my name and country know;
Assuage your thirst of blood, and strike the blow:
My death will both the kingly brothers please,
And set insatiate Ithacus at ease.'
This fair unfinished tale, these broken starts,
Raised expectations in our longing hearts;
Unknowing as we were in Grecian arts.
His former trembling once again renewed,
With acted fear, the villain thus pursued:--
'Long had the Grecians (tired with fruitless care,
And wearied with an unsuccessful war)
Resolved to raise the siege, and leave the town;
And, had the gods permitted, they had gone.
But oft the wintry seas, and southern winds,
Withstood their passage home, and changed their minds.
Portents and prodigies their souls amazed;
But most, when this stupendous pile was raised:
Then flaming meteors, hung in air, were seen,
And thunders rattled through a sky serene.
Dismayed, and fearful of some dire event,
Eurypylus, to inquire their fate, was sent.
He from the gods this dreadful answer brought:
""O Grecians, when the Trojan shores you sought,
Your passage with a virgin's blood was bought:
So must your safe return be bought again,
And Grecian blood once more atone the main.""
The spreading rumour round the people ran;
All feared, and each believed himself the man.
Ulysses took the advantage of their fright;
Called Calchas, and produced in open sight,
Then bade him name the wretch, ordained by fate
The public victim, to redeem the state.
Already some presaged the dire event,
And saw what sacrifice Ulysses meant.
For twice five days the good old seer withstood
The intended treason, and was dumb to blood,
Till, tired with endless clamours and pursuit
Of Ithacus, he stood no longer mute,
But, as it was agreed, pronounced that I
Was destined by the wrathful gods to die.
All praised the sentence, pleased the storm should fall
On one alone, whose fury threatened all.
The dismal day was come; the priests prepare
Their leavened cakes, and fillets for my hair.
I followed nature's laws, and must avow,
I broke my bonds, and fled the fatal blow.
Hid in a weedy lake all night I lay,
Secure of safety when they sailed away.
But now what further hopes for me remain,
To see my friends, or native soil, again;
My tender infants, or my careful sire,
Whom they returning will to death require;
Will perpetrate on them their first design,
And take the forfeit of their heads for mine?
Which, O! if pity mortal minds can move,
If there be faith below, or gods above,
If innocence and truth can claim desert,
Ye Trojans, from an injured wretch avert.'",,8590,•INTEREST. Continues differentiating animals from men: animals without judgment. ,"""But when Ulysses, with fallacious arts, / Had made impression in the people's hearts,""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:33:39 UTC,""
3972,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-12 00:00:00 UTC,"What not his father's care, nor tutor's art,
Could plant with pains in his unpolished heart,
The best instructor, love, at once inspired,
As barren grounds to fruitfulness are fired;
Love taught him shame, and shame, with love at strife,
Soon taught the sweet civilities of life.
His gross material soul at once could find
Somewhat in her excelling all her kind;
Exciting a desire till then unknown,
Somewhat unfound, or found in her alone.
This made the first impression in his mind,
Above, but just above, the brutal kind.
For beasts can like, but not distinguish too,
Nor their own liking by reflection know;
Nor why they like or this or t'other face,
Or judge of this, or that peculiar grace;
But love in gross, and stupidly admire;
As flies, allured by light, approach the fire.
Thus our man-beast, advancing by degrees,
First likes the whole, then separates what he sees;
On several parts a several praise bestows,
The ruby lips, the well-proportioned nose,
The snowy skin, the raven-glossy hair,
The dimpled cheek, the forehead rising fair,
And, even in sleep itself, a smiling air.
From thence his eyes descending viewed the rest,
Her plump round arms, white hands, and heaving breast.
Long on the last he dwelt, though every part
A pointed arrow sped to pierce his heart.",2011-06-05,10311,•INTEREST. Continues differentiating animals from men: animals without judgment. ,"""This made the first impression in his mind / Above, but just above, the brutal kind.""",Impressions,2011-06-06 03:04:50 UTC,Translations from Boccace
4141,"","Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again searching ""soul"" and ""impression""",2005-05-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Reflection is the last and greatest Bliss:
When turning backwards with inverted Eyes,
The Soul it self and all its Charms, surveys,
The deep Impressions of Coelestial Grace
And Image of the Godhead: no alloy
Of Flesh, its sprightly Beauties can destroy;
Nor Death nor Fate can snatch the lasting Joy.
Through ev'ry Limb the active Spirit flows;
Diffusing Life and Vigour as it goes,
But is it self unmixt, and free from Dross;
Reflected on its glitt'ring Form it views
All Nature's Works, with eager Steps persues
The Species as they fly, and subtly draws
From single Objects universal Laws:
Thus whilst great Jove the whirling Engine guides,
And o'er the Times and rolling Year presides:
Still, as he turns the rapid Wheels of Chance,
Himself immortal and unchang'd remains,
And when the empty Scene of Nature cloys,
Sinks in the Godhead, and himself enjoys.",,10658,•Crazy! Eye turned round in its socket.,"""Reflection is the last and greatest Bliss: / When turning backwards with inverted Eyes, / The Soul it self and all its Charms, surveys, / The deep Impressions of Coelestial Grace /
And Image of the Godhead.""",Eye,2013-06-26 17:25:06 UTC,""
4141,"","Searching ""soul"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-05-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Fair Italy the wand'ring Youth invites,
A Country plac'd beyond the Alpine Heights,
Extended far: two neighb'ring Seas divide,
And interposing break the adverse Tide:
Here Rome, once Mistress of the World, the Seat
Of Godlike Men, divinely fair and great,
Totters and droops: no Footstep now remains
Of her first State, but Superstition reigns;
Her Sons, unmindful of their noble Race,
And Latian Blood, degenerate and base,
Sink in soft Pleasure, and inglorious Ease;
Whilst with Surprize and Wonder thou survey'st
The sacred Ruins and prodigious Waft:
And read'st its State and Glory in its Fall,
Let the fam'd Annals to thy Mind recal
The vast Idea of its former Pow'r,
Think on the Scipio's and their high Deserts:
Think on the Fabii fam'd for peaceful Arts:
And let the first and noblest Theme of Fame,
Julius, a mighty and immortal Name,
In lovely Scenes his Godlike Acts renew,
And open all his Triumphs to thy View:
How with victorious Arms he bravely tam'd
The proud Iberian Race, for Valour fam'd,
The swarthy African, and haughty Gaul,
And Envy, fatal Foe! more fear'd than all,
From far Iulus Race the Hero came,
Of whom he took his Nature and his Name.
Great was his Courage, nor his Candour less,
Dreadful in War, and merciful in Peace.
Fair Italy some Beauties still can boast,
The small Remains of all her Grandeur lost:
Tho' various Realms and States the Land divide,
Yet still the Men retain their former Pride,
Hardy and stout, instructed how to deal
In subtle Arts can cringe and wheedle well,
Assuming various Shapes in all excel:
Smooth are their Tongues, for soft persuasion made,
Their Wisdom in a thousand Form display'd:
Large is their Soul, and capable to take
The first Impression's Gain or Pleasure make:
Whate'er they wish, they seldom wish in vain,
But still persue and labour to attain:
Trouble, and Toil, and Pain, they gladly bear,
And when they hope, 'tis seldom they despair:
Frugal and close, confin'd to narrow Bounds,
They manage Fortune and correct her Frowns;
The happy Genius of Augustus reign,
Sometimes revives, and charms the World again:
The Muse revisits her once tuneful Race,
And mighty Phoebus all the God displays.",,10661,"","""Large is their Soul, and capable to take / The first Impression's Gain or Pleasure make""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:35:10 UTC,""
4209,"",HDIS,2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"Verse 457. Not half so loud , &c.]
The Poet having ended the Episode of Jupiter and Juno , returns to the Battel, where the Greeks being animated and led on by Neptune , renew the Fight with Vigour. The Noise and Outcry of this fresh Onset, he endeavours to express by these three sounding Comparisons; as if he thought it necessary to awake the Reader's Attention, which by the preceding Descriptions might be lull'd into a Forgetfulness of the Fight. He might likewise design to shew how soundly Jupiter slept, since he is not awak'd by so terrible an Uproar.
This Passage cannot be thought justly liable to the Objections which have been made against heaping Comparisons one upon another, whereby the principal Object is lost amidst too great a Variety of different Images. In this Case the principal Image is more strongly impress'd on the Mind by a Multiplication of Similes, which are the natural Product of an Imagination labouring to express something very vast: But finding no single Idea sufficient to answer its Conceptions, it endeavours by redoubling the Comparisons to supply this Defect: the different Sounds of Waters, Winds, and Flames being as it were united in one. We have several Instances of this sort even in so castigated and reserv'd a Writer as Virgil , who has joined together the Images of this Passage in the 4th Georgic , V. 261. and apply'd them, beautifully softened by a kind of Parody, to the buzzing of a Beehive.
Frigidus ut quondam sylvis immurmurat Auster,
Ut mare sollicitum stridet refluentibus undis,
Æstuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis.
Tasso has not only imitated this particular Passage of Homer , but likewise added to it.
Cant. 9. St. 22.
Rapido si che torbida procella
De cavernosi monti esce piu tarda:
Fiume, ch' alberi insieme, e case svella:
Folgore, che le torri abbatta, & arda:
Terremoto, che'l mondo empia d'horrore,
Son picciole sembianze al suo furore.
",,10928,"•INTEREST. Similes are the ""natural Product of an Imagination labouring to express something very vast""","""In this Case the principal Image is more strongly impress'd on the Mind by a Multiplication of Similes, which are the natural Product of an Imagination labouring to express something very vast.""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:35:24 UTC,""
4209,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"Verse 815. Three Ships with Nireus.]
This Leader is no where mention'd but in these Lines, and is an Exception to the Observation of Macrobius that all the Persons of the Catalogue make their Appearance afterwards in the Poem.Homer himself gives us the reason, because Nireus had but a small Share of Worth and Valour; his Quality only gave him a Privilege to be nam'd among Men. The Poet has caused him to be remember'd no less than Achilles orUlysses , but yet in no better manner than he deserv'd, whose only Qualification was his Beauty: 'Tis by a bare Repetition of his Name three times, which just leaves some Impression of him on the Mind of the Reader. Many others, of as trivial Memory as Nireus, have been preserv'd by Poets from Oblivion; but few Poets have ever done this Favour to Want of Merit with so much Judgment. Demetrius Phalereus peri ErmhneiaV , Sect. 61. takes notice of this beautiful Repetition, which in a just Deference to so delicate a Critick is here preserv'd in the Translation.",,10968,"•Footnote to following lines: ""Three Ships with Nireus sought the Trojan Shore, / Nireus, whom Agläe to Charopus bore, / Nireus, in faultless Shape, and blooming Grace""","""'Tis by a bare Repetition of his Name three times, which just leaves some Impression of him on the Mind of the Reader""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:35:26 UTC,""
4209,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"Verse 135. Me too ye Warriors hear, &c.]
We may observe what care Homer takes to give every one his proper Character, and how this Speech of Menelaus is adapted to the Laconick; which the better to comprehend, we may remember there are in Homer three Speakers of different Characters, agreeable to the three different kinds of Eloquence. These we may compare with each other in one Instance, supposing them all to use the same Heads, and in the same Order.
The Materials of the Speech are, The manifesting his Grief for the War, with the hopes that it is in his Power to end it; an Acceptance of the propos'd Challenge; an Account of the Ceremonies to be us'd in the League; and a Proposal of a proper Caution to secure it.
Now had Nestor these Materials to work upon, he would probably have begun with a Relation of all the Troubles of the nine Year's Siege which he hop'd he might now bring to an end; he would court their Benevolence and good Wishes for his Prosperity with all the Figures of Amplification; while he accepted the Challenge, he would have given an Example to prove that the single Combate was a wise, gallant, and gentle way of ending the War, practis'd by their Fathers; in the Description of the Rites he would be exceeding particular; and when he chose to demand the Sanction of Priam rather than of his Sons, he would place in Opposition on one side the Son's Action which began the War, and on the other the Impressions of Concern or Repentance which it must by this time have made in the Father's Mind, whose Wisdom he would undoubtedly extol as the effect of his Age. All this he would have expatiated upon with Connexions of the Discourses in the most evident manner, and the most easy, gliding, undisobliging Transitions. The Effect would be, that the People would hear him with Pleasure.
Had it been Ulysses who was to make the Speech, he would have mention'd a few of their most affecting Calamities in a pathetick Air; then have undertaken the Fight with testifying such a chearful Joy, as should have won the Hearts of the Soldiers to follow him to the Field without being desired. He would have been exceeding cautious in wording the Conditions; and solemn rather than particular in speaking of the Rites, which he would only insist on as an Opportunity to exhort both sides to a fear of the Gods, and a strict regard of Justice. He would have remonstrated the use of sending for Priam; and (because no Caution could be too much) have demanded his Sons to be bound with him. For a Conclusion he would have us'd some noble Sentiment agreeable to a Heroe, and (it may be) have enforc'd it with some inspirited Action. In all this you would have known that the Discourse hung together, but its Fire would not always suffer it to be seen in cooler Transitions, which (when they are too nicely laid open) may conduct the Reader, but never carry him away. The People would hear him with Emotion.
These Materials being given to Menelaus, he but just mentions their Troubles, and his Satisfaction in the Prospect of ending them, shortens the Proposals, says a Sacrifice is necessary, requires Priam's Presence to confirm the Conditions, refuses his Sons with a Resentment of that Injury he suffer'd by them, and concludes with a Reason for his Choice from the Praise of Age, with a short Gravity, and the Air of an Apothegm. This he puts in order without any more Transition than what a single Conjunction affords. And the effect of the Discourse is, that the People are instructed by it in what is to be done.",,10969,"•Footnote to following lines: ""Me too ye Warriors hear, whose fatal Right""","""[H]e would place in Opposition on one side the Son's Action which began the War, and on the other the Impressions of Concern or Repentance which it must by this time have made in the Father's Mind.""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:35:26 UTC,""
7163,"",Reading,2014-05-26 20:19:34 UTC,"Then, Death, so call'd, is but old Matter dress'd
In some new Figure, and a vary'd Vest:
Thus all Things are but alter'd, nothing dies;
And here and there th' unbodied Spirit flies,
By Time, or Force, or Sickness dispossest,
And lodges, where it lights, in Man or Beast;
Or hunts without, till ready Limbs it find,
And actuates those according to their kind;
From Tenement to Tenement is toss'd;
The Soul is still the same, the Figure only lost:
And, as the soften'd Wax new Seals receives,
This Face assumes, and that Impression leaves;
Now call'd by one, now by another Name;
The Form is only chang'd, the Wax is still the same:
So Death, so call'd, can but the Form deface,
Th' immortal Soul flies out in empty space;
To seek her Fortune in some other Place.
(p. 512, cf. p. 821 in OUP)",,23861,USE IN ENTRY?,"""And, as the soften'd Wax new Seals receives, / This Face assumes, and that Impression leaves; / Now call'd by one, now by another Name; / The Form is only chang'd, the Wax is still the same.""",Impressions,2014-05-26 20:19:34 UTC,""
3322,"",Reading,2016-02-15 16:32:56 UTC,"Against the Tiber's mouth, but far away,
An ancient town was seated on the sea;
A Tyrian colony; the people made
Stout for the war, and studious of their trade:
Carthage the name; belov'd by Juno more
Than her own Argos, or the Samian shore.
Here stood her chariot; here, if Heav'n were kind,
The seat of awful empire she design'd.
Yet she had heard an ancient rumor fly,
(Long cited by the people of the sky,)
That times to come should see the Trojan race
Her Carthage ruin, and her tow'rs deface;
Nor thus confin'd, the yoke of sov'reign sway
Should on the necks of all the nations lay.
She ponder'd this, and fear'd it was in fate;
Nor could forget the war she wag'd of late
For conqu'ring Greece against the Trojan state.
Besides, long causes working in her mind,
And secret seeds of envy, lay behind;
Deep graven in her heart the doom remain'd
Of partial Paris, and her form disdain'd;
The grace bestow'd on ravish'd Ganymed,
Electra's glories, and her injur'd bed.
Each was a cause alone; and all combin'd
To kindle vengeance in her haughty mind.
For this, far distant from the Latian coast
She drove the remnants of the Trojan host;
And sev'n long years th' unhappy wand'ring train
Were toss'd by storms, and scatter'd thro' the main.
Such time, such toil, requir'd the Roman name,
Such length of labor for so vast a frame.
(Book I, ll. 19-49)",,24805,"","""Besides, long causes working in her mind, / And secret seeds of envy, lay behind; / Deep graven in her heart the doom remain'd / Of partial Paris, and her form disdain'd; / The grace bestow'd on ravish'd Ganymed, / Electra's glories, and her injur'd bed.""","",2016-02-15 16:32:56 UTC,""