text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"When (to the spirit-stirring sound
Of trumpets, breathing courage round,
And fifes, well-mingled to restrain
And bring that courage down again;
Or to the melancholy knell
Of the dull, deep, and doleful bell,
Such as of late the good Saint Bride
Muffled, to mortify the pride
Of those, who, England quite forgot,
Paid their vile homage to the Scot,
Where Asgill held the foremost place,
Whilst my Lord figured at a race)
Processions ('tis not worth debate
Whether they are of stage or state)
Move on, so very, very slow,
'Tis doubtful if they move or no;
When the performers all the while
Mechanically frown or smile,
Or, with a dull and stupid stare,
A vacancy of sense declare,
Or, with down-bending eye, seem wrought
Into a labyrinth of thought,
Where Reason wanders still in doubt,
And, once got in, cannot get out,
What cause sufficient can we find,
To satisfy a thinking mind
Why, duped by such vain farces, man
Descends to act on such a plan?
Why they, who hold themselves divine,
Can in such wretched follies join,
Strutting like peacocks, or like crows,
Themselves and Nature to expose?
What cause, but that (you'll understand
We have our remedy at hand,
That if perchance we start a doubt,
Ere it is fix'd, we wipe it out;
As surgeons, when they lop a limb,
Whether for profit, fame, or whim,
Or mere experiment to try,
Must always have a styptic by)
Fancy steps in, and stamps that real,
Which, ipso facto, is ideal.",2012-05-29 14:20:08 UTC,"""Fancy steps in, and stamps that real, / Which, ipso facto, is ideal.""",2005-04-11 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"","Searching ""stamp"" and ""fancy"" in HDIS (Poetry)",13908,5175
" With these grave fops, who (bless their brains!)
Most cruel to themselves, take pains
For wretchedness, and would be thought
Much wiser than a wise man ought
For his own happiness, to be;
Who what they hear, and what they see,
And what they smell, and taste, and feel,
Distrust, till Reason sets her seal,
And, by long trains of consequences
Ensured, gives sanction to the senses;
Who would not, Heaven forbid it! waste
One hour in what the world calls Taste,
Nor fondly deign to laugh or cry,
Unless they know some reason why,--
With these grave fops, whose system seems
To give up certainty for dreams
The eye of man is understood
As for no other purpose good
Than as a door, through which, of course,
Their passage crowding objects force;
A downright usher, to admit
New-comers to the court of Wit:
(Good Gravity! forbear thy spleen,
When I say wit, I wisdom mean)
Where, (such the practice of the court,
Which legal precedents support)
Not one idea is allow'd
To pass unquestion'd in the crowd,
But ere it can obtain the grace
Of holding in the brain a place,
Before the chief in congregation
Must stand a strict examination.",2012-05-29 13:57:53 UTC,"The senses should be distrusted ""till Reason sets her seal, / And, by long trains of consequences / Ensured, gives sanction to the senses.""",2005-04-19 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"","Searching ""seal"" and ""reason"" in HDIS (Poetry)",13909,5175
"Thou God with vengeance arm'd, appear;
Thou God with vengeance arm'd, whose fear
The Earth (for Thee her Judge she knows,)
Submissive owns, thy pow'r disclose,
And instant from thy seat arise,
Each proud transgressor to chastise.
How long shall impious Crouds, how long,
With haughtiest insult arm their tongue?
How long in bitt'rest gall each word
Infuse, and boast their conqu'ring sword?
Thy Flock, great God, their fury own;
Beneath their stroke thy People groan:
Their hands, remorseless, to the tomb
The Widow and the Stranger doom;
Nor innocence nor tend'rest age
Can shield the Orphan from their rage.
""Ne'er shall our deeds in Heav'n be known,
""Or reach (they cry,) the distant Throne
""Of Israel's Lord.""--Ye fools and blind!
Return, and seek a better mind.
Say, when shall Wisdom's light serene
Your souls from error's childhood wean?
Who knew to plant the ear, shall He
Not hear? Who form'd the eye, not see?
Shall aught of guilt his search evade,
Who bids the Nations he has made,
Inform'd by his paternal care,
The gifts of various Science share,
Who Reason in the bosom pours,
Its growth improves, its fruit matures,
Each counsel of the human brain
Weighs in his scale, and stamps it vain?",2013-11-11 04:40:28 UTC,"""Reason in the bosom pours, / Its growth improves, its fruit matures, / Each counsel of the human brain / Weighs in his scale, and stamps it vain?""",2005-04-11 00:00:00 UTC,I've included the entire poem,"",,Impression,"•Psalm XCIV
•DNB notes Psalms is a popular work. ""Merrick was evidently aiming to capture a different audience from the nonconformists who were singing Isaac Watts's The Psalms of David of 1719: he seems to have been attempting a version which would be an alternative to Watts for the Church of England, and which would also 'answer the purposes of private devotion' (preface). He used a number of metres; the majority were couplets in octosyllabics or of seven syllables. The popularity of the book is shown by its frequent reprinting, and by an edition 'divided into stanzas and adapted for devotion' by W. D. Tattersall (1794). Before that, twenty-one of Merrick's psalms had appeared in J. Ash and C. Evans's A Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (1781), over the signature 'M'; they were set to music by William Hayes (1775) for use in Magdalen College chapel, Oxford. Further editions with musical settings followed, including settings by Haydn. According to Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, Merrick's psalm versions were popular in the early nineteenth century, but had by 1892 'fallen very much into disuse' (p. 725, col. 2). It is not difficult to see why: although they were commended by Robert Lowth (who of course had a hand in them, and who described Merrick as 'one of the best of men, and most eminent of scholars'), they were described by a contemporary critic as tame and diffuse, and James Montgomery has some sharp comments on their verbosity. They are now forgotten. They were greatly admired, however, in Merrick's own time: Thomas Warton said that they evidenced 'a flow of poetical language, and a richness of imagery, which give dignity to the subject, without departing from the sense of the inspired writer' (Coates, 439).""","Searching ""brain"" and ""stamp"" in HDIS (Poetry)",14056,5225
" The man is blessed, as he prays,
Whose reins thy strength receive,
And in whose heart thy word and ways
A deep impression leave.
",2011-06-06 03:25:23 UTC,"""The man is blessed, as he prays, / Whose reins thy strength receive, / And in whose heart thy word and ways / A deep impression leave.""",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2011-06-05,Impression,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",14069,5227
"For, vainly think not, tho' the classic school
Of eloquence hath charm'd thy tranced hours,
That, there, the just--the appropriate model claims
Thine imitative labours. Unconstrain'd,
From equity's intrinsic source, (to all
Perspicuous), and the heart's decisions stamp'd
By Nature's seal, and man's primæval laws,
The immortal champions of the forum drew
Their more persuasive numbers. Short their code,
And simple; wedded to no toil austere;
Nor asking many a lustrum, to devote
The midnight lamp to musing. To combine
The quick varieties of thought; to snatch
From elocution all the heightening grace
Of diction; and amuse the million's eye
By each external impulse; this their boast,
This was their aim. No deep immuring pile
(The science of innumerous tomes) opprest
The mental strength elastic; nor perplex'd
By facts from mazy records, the free flow
Of speech, that never hesitating ran
Thro' easy vein. And while (the rare result
Of letter'd art) the precious volume gave
Its treasures to the few--perhaps no more
Accessible, and barr'd from vulgar gaze;
They bade retentive memory on their mind
Impress each image, in distinctive lines
That mock'd erasure. Hence the pleader, bold
In vigorous thought, and trusting to those powers
Which knew no ready refuge in the means
Of foreign aid, unlock'd with nature's key
The secret springs that agitate the soul!",2011-11-24 19:50:06 UTC,"""They bade retentive memory on their mind / Impress each image, in distinctive lines / That mock'd erasure.""",2005-05-11 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2011-11-24,"","","Searching ""mind"" and ""line"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15441,5787
"Far other notions of pathetic speech
The speakers of the Roman senate form'd;
Who ne'er essay'd to steal into the heart,
By painting to the feelings. 'Twas not theirs
To touch by imagery, but to move
By sympathetic strokes--to ope the effect
Of each impression on their own warm mind;
Not shew the mental portraiture itself,
By gradual art, thro' fancy's calmer light.
Pure passion dwells not on description's hues;
But ever lives, (and trembles, as it lives),
In indistinctest energies--a look,
A tone, a gesture! Hence, the speaker's soul
Enkindled, spreads its own contagious warmth.
'Tis thus the uncultur'd know the affection's force,
Bias'd by nature to admire! to shake
With agony, with rapture! circumscrib'd
By narrow bounds; nor shap'd to scrutinize
The ideas, whose obscure effect they feel.",2009-09-14 19:43:40 UTC,"The Roman senators moved the mind by sympathetic strokes and oped ""the effect of each impression on their own warm mind""",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impression,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15442,5787
"Nor, my young friends,
Whom life's gay sunshine warms with laughing joy,
Pass you those claims unheeding!--In the bud
Of earliest rose oft have I sorrowing seen
The canker-worm lurk blighting; oft, ere noon,
The tulip have beheld drop its proud head
In eminent beauty open'd to the morn!
In youth, in beauty, in life's outward charms
Boast not self-flattering; virtue has a grace,
Religion has a power, which will preserve
Immortal your true excellence! Oh give
Early and happy your young hearts to God,
And God will smile in countless blessings on you!
Nor, captivate by fashion's idle glare,
And the world's shews delusive, dance the maze,
The same dull round, fatiguing and fatigu'd,
Till, discontented, down in folly's seat,
And disappointment's, worthless, toil'd, you sink,
Despising and despis'd! Your gentle hearts
To kind impressions yet susceptible,
Will amiably hear a friend's advice;
And if, perchance, amidst the giddy whirl
Of circling folly, his unheeded tongue
Hath whisper'd vanity, or not announc'd
Truth's salutary dictates to your ears,
Forgive the injury, my friends belov'd;
And see me now, solicitous t'atone
That and each fault, each error; with full eyes
Intreating you, by all your hopes and fears,
By all your dear anxieties; by all
You hold in life most precious, to attend,
To listen to his lore! to seek for bliss
In God, in piety; in hearts devote
To duty and to Heav'n! and seeking thus,
The treasure is your own. Angels on earth,
Thus pure and good, soon will ye mount, and live
Eternal angels with your Father--God!",2009-09-14 19:43:47 UTC,"""Your gentle hearts / To kind impressions yet susceptible, / Will amiably hear a friend's advice""",2005-05-16 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impression,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15490,5807
"Then farewell, oh, my friends! light o'er my grave
The green sod lay, and dew it with the tear
Of memory affectionate! and you
--The curtain dropt decisive, oh my foes,
Your rancour drop; and, candid, as I am
Speak of me, hapless! Then you'll speak of one
Whose bosom beat at pity's gentlest touch
From earliest infancy: whose boyish mind
In acts humane and tender ever joy'd;
And who,--that temper by his inmost sense
Approv'd and cultivate with constant care,--
Melted thro' life at Sorrow's plaintive tale;
And urg'd, compassionate with pleasure ran
To soothe the sufferer and relieve the woe!
Of one, who, though to humble fortune bred,
With splendid generosity's bright form
Too ardently enamour'd, turn'd his sight,
Deluded, from frugality's just care,
And parsimony needful! One who scorn'd
Mean love of gold, yet to that power,--his scorn
Retorting vengeful,--a mark'd victim fell!
Of one, who, unsuspecting, and ill-form'd
For the world's subtleties, his bare breast bore
Unguarded, open; and ingenuous, thought
All men ingenuous, frank and open too!
Of one, who, warm with human passions, soft
To tenderest impressions, frequent rush'd
Precipitate into the tangling maze
Of error;--instant to each fault alive
Who, in his little journey through the world--
Misled, deluded oft, mistook his way;
Met with bad roads and robbers, for his steps
Insidious lurking: and, by cunning craft
Of fellow-travellers sometimes deceiv'd,
Severely felt of cruelty and scorn,
Of envy, malice, and of ill report[1],
The heavy hand oppressive! One who brought
--From ignorance, from indiscretion blind,--
Ills numerous on his head; but never aim'd,
Nor wish'd an ill or injury to man!
Injur'd, with cheerful readiness forgave;
Nor for a moment in his happy heart
Harbour'd of malice or revenge a thought:
Still glad and blest to avenge his foes despite
By deeds of love benevolent!--Of one--
Oh painful contradiction, who in God,
In duty, plac'd the summit of his joy;
Yet left that God, that blissful duty left,
Preposterous, vile deserter! and receiv'd
A just return--""Desertion from his God,
""And consequential plunge into the depth
""Of all his present--of all human woe!""",2009-09-14 19:43:47 UTC,"""Of one, who, warm with human passions, soft / To tenderest impressions, frequent rush'd / Precipitate into the tangling maze""",2005-05-20 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impression,"","Searching ""passion"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15491,5807