work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3626,"","Reading Louis Bredvold's The Intellectual Milieu of John Dryden (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962): 63.",2005-04-06 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus, my Lord, your sickness is but the imitation of your health; the poet but subordinate to the statesman in you: you still govern men with the same address, and manage business with the same prudence; allowing it here, as in the world, the due increase and growth, till it comes to the just height; and then turning it when it is fully ripe, and Nature calls out, as it were, to be delivered. With this only advantage of ease to you in your poetry, that you have fortune here at your command; with which, wisdom does often unsuccessfully struggle in the world. Here is no chance, which you have not foreseen; all your heroes are more than your subjects, they are your creatures; and though they seem to move freely in all the sallies of their passions, yet you make destinies for them, which they cannot shun. They are moved (if I may dare to say so) like the rational creatures of the Almighty Poet, who walk at liberty, in their own opinion, because their fetters are invisible; when, indeed, the prison of their will is the more sure for being large; and instead of an absolute power over their actions, they have only a wretched desire of doing that, which they cannot choose but do.",2010-12-30,9416,"•INTEREST. Creepy determinism in art and life.
•Bredvold cites from Works, II, 132-33.
bull; Reading again in Google Books....","""They are moved (if I may dare to say so) like the rational creatures of the Almighty Poet, who walk at liberty, in their own opinion, because their fetters are invisible; when, indeed, the prison of their will is the more sure for being large; and instead of an absolute power over their actions, they have only a wretched desire of doing that, which they cannot choose but do.""",Fetters,2012-01-28 20:21:44 UTC,""
7055,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""chain"" in HDIS (Drama)",2011-07-30 20:34:50 UTC,"LORD ARMINGER
Had she all this Beauty, and the Worlds Treasure in her own Exchequer, she cou'd no more tempt me to love her, than she cou'd tempt the dead. A Marble Statue her Beauty may give life and motion to, force it to weep, and tell its amorous passion, make it die for love, and so turn Statue again. All this I think is in the power of Love, and yet it cannot work a change in me, my heart is link'd so firmly to your Virtues. Magick cannot break the chain.
(IV.iii)
",,19072,"","""All this I think is in the power of Love, and yet it cannot work a change in me, my heart is link'd so firmly to your Virtues. Magick cannot break the chain.""",Fetters,2011-07-30 20:34:50 UTC,"Act IV, scene iii"
7097,"",Reading in Google Books,2011-09-20 14:42:00 UTC,"In all our Undertakings, let us first examine our own Strength; the Enterprise next; and Thirdly, the Persons with whom we have to do. The first Point is most Important; for, we are apt to over-value our selves, and reckon, that we can do more than indeed we can. One Man sets up for a Speaker, and is out, as soon as he opens his Mouth; another over-charges his Estate perhaps, or his Body: A Bashful Man is not fit for Publick Business: some again are too Stiff, and Peremptory for the Court: Many People are apt to fly out in their Anger; nay, and in a Frolick too, if any sharp Thing fall in their way, they'll rather venture a Neck, than lose a Jest. These People had better be quiet in the World, than busie. Let him that is naturally Cholerick, and Impatient, avoid all Provocations, and those Affairs also, that multiply and draw on more; and those also from which there is no Retreat. When we may come off at Pleasure, and fairly hope to bring our Matters to a Period, 'tis well enough. If it so happen, that a Man be ty'd up to Business, which he can neither loosen, nor break off; let him imagine those Shackles upon his Mind to be Irons upon his Legs: They are Troublesome at first, but when there's no Remedy but Patience, Custom makes them easie to us, and Necessity gives us Courage. We are all Slaves to Fortune; some only in loose and Golden Chains, others in streight ones, and Coarser: Nay, and they that bind us, are Slaves too themselves; some to Honour, others to Wealth; some to Offices, others to Contempt; some to their Superiors, others to themselves: Nay, Life it self is a Servitude: Let us make the best on't then, and with our Philosophy mend our Fortune. Difficulties may be softned, and heavy Burthens Dispos'd of to our Ease. Let us Covet nothing out of our Reach, but content our selves with things hopeful, and at hand; and without Envying the Advantages of others: For Greatness stands upon a Craggy Precipice, and 'tis much Safer and Quieter living upon a Level. How many Great Men are forc'd to keep their Station upon mere Necessity; because they find there's no coming down from it but headlong? These Men should do well to fortifie themselves against ill Consequences, by such Virtues and Meditations, as may make them less sollicitous for the future. The surest Expedient in this Case is to bound our Desires, and to leave nothing to Fortune which we may keep in our own Power. Neither will this Course wholly compose us, but it shews us, at worst, the end of our Troubles.
(pp. 132-4)",,19187,"","""If it so happen, that a Man be ty'd up to Business, which he can neither loosen, nor break off; let him imagine those Shackles upon his Mind to be Irons upon his Legs: They are Troublesome at first, but when there's no Remedy but Patience, Custom makes them easie to us, and Necessity gives us Courage.""",Fetters,2011-09-20 14:42:00 UTC,Chapter 5
7097,"","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",2011-09-20 16:12:36 UTC,"A Good Conscience is the Testimony of a Good Life, and the Reward of it. This is it that fortifies the Mind against Fortune, when a Man has gotten the Mastery of his Passions; plac'd his Treasure, and his Security within himself; learned to be content with his Condition; and that Death is no Evil in itself but only the End of Man. He that has dedicated his Mind to Virtue, and to the Good of Human Society, whereof he is a Member, has consummated all that is either Profitable or Necessary for him to Know, or Do toward the Establishment of his Peace. Every Man has a Judge, and a Witness within himself, of all the Good, and lll that he Does; which inspires us with great Thoughts, and administers to us wholsome Counsels. We have a Veneration for all the Works pf Nature, the Heads of Rivers, and the Springs of Medicinal Waters: the Horrors of Groves, and of Caves, strike us with an Impression of Religion and Worship. To see a Man Fearless in Dangers, Untainted with Lusts, Happy in Adversity, Compos'd in a Tumult, and Laughing at all those Things which are generally either Coveted or Feared; all Men must acknowledge, that this can be nothing else but a Beam of Divinity that Influences a Mortal Body. And this is it that carries us to the Disquisition of Things Divine, and Human; What the state of the World was before the Distribution of the First Matter into Parts; what Power it was that drew Order out of that Confusion, and gave Laws both to the whole, and to every Particle thereof; what that Space is beyond the World; and whence proceed the several Operations of Nature. Shall any Man see the Glory, and Order of the Universe; so many scatter'd Parts, and Qualities wrought into one Mass; such a Medly of Things, which are yet distinguished; the World enlighten'd, and the Disorders of it so wonderfully Regulated; and, shall he not consider the Author, and Disposer of all this; and, whither we our selves shall go, when our Souls shall bedeliver'd from the Slavery of our Flesh? The whole Creation, we see, conforms to the Dictates of Providence, and follows God both as a Governour, and as a Guide. A Great, a Good, and a Right Mind, is a kind of Divinity lodg'd in Flesh, and may be the Blessing of a Slave, as well as of a Prince; it came from Heaven, and to Heaven it must return; and it is a kind of Heavenly Felicity, which a pure, and virtuous Mind enjoys, in some Degree, even upon Earth: Whereas Temples of Honour are but empty Names, which probably owe their Beginning either to Ambition, or to Violence. I am strangely transported with the Thoughts of Eternity; Nay, with the Belief of it; for I have a profound Veneration for the Opinions of Great Men, especially when they promise Things so much to my Satisfaction: for they do Promise them, though they do not Prove them. In the Question of the Immortality of the the Soul, it goes very far with me, a General Consent to the Opinion of a Future Reward, and Punishment; which Meditation raises me to the Contempt of this Lise, in hopes of a Better. But still, though we know that we have a Soul; yet, What the Soul is, How, and from Whence, we are utterly Ignorant: This only we understand, that all the Good, and lll we do, is under the Dominion of the Mind; that a Clear Conscience states us in an Inviolable Peace: And, that the greatest Blessing in Nature, is that, which every honest Man may bestow upon himself.
The Body is but the Clog and Prisoner of the Mind; tossed up and down, and persecuted with Punishments, Violences, and Diseases; but the Mind it self is Sacred, and Eternal, and exempt from the Danger of all Actual Impression.
(pp. 138-40)",,19191,"","""The Body is but the Clog and Prisoner of the Mind; tossed up and down, and persecuted with Punishments, Violences, and Diseases; but the Mind it self is Sacred, and Eternal, and exempt from the Danger of all Actual Impression.""",Fetters,2011-09-20 16:12:36 UTC,"Of A Happy Life, Chapter VI"
7097,"","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",2011-09-20 16:18:22 UTC,"[...] Shall any Man think Banishment Grievous, when he may take such Company along with him? Nor is there any Banishment, but yields enough for our Necessities, and no Kingdom is sufficient for Superfluities. It is the Mind that makes us Rich in a Desart; and if the Body be but kept Alive, the Soul Enjoys all Spiritual Felicities in Abundance. What signifies the being Banish'd from one Spot of Ground to Another, to a Man that has his Thoughts Above, and can look Forward, and Backward, and where ever he pleases; and that where ever he is, has the same Matter to work upon? The Body is but the Prison, or the Clog of the Mind; subjected to Punishments, Robberies, Diseases; but the Mind is Sacred, and Spiritual, and Liable to no Violence. Is it that a Man shall want Garments, or Covering in Banishment? The Body is as easily Cloth'd, as Fed; and Nature has made nothing Hard that is Necessary. But if nothing will serve us, but Rich Embroideries, and Scarlet, 'tis none of Fortune's Fault that we are Poor, but our Own. Nay, suppose a Man should have All restor'd him back again that he has Lost; it will come to nothing, for he will want more after That, to satisfie his Desires, than he did before, to supply his Necessities. Insatiable Appetites are not so much a Thirst, as a Disease.
(pp. 274-5)",,19193,"","""The Body is but the Prison, or the Clog of the Mind; subjected to Punishments, Robberies, Diseases; but the Mind is Sacred, and Spiritual, and Liable to no Violence.""",Fetters,2011-09-20 16:18:22 UTC,"Of a Happy Life, Chapter XXIV"
3353,"","Searching ""bond"" and ""soul"" in HDIS (Poetry)' found again, ""chain""",2012-01-06 21:44:34 UTC,"'Tis but the Body that blind Fortunes spight
Can chain to Earth; the nobler Soul doth slight
Her servill Bonds, and takes to Heaven her flight.
",,19397,"","""'Tis but the Body that blind Fortunes spight / Can chain to Earth; the nobler Soul doth slight / Her servill Bonds, and takes to Heaven her flight.""",Fetters,2012-01-12 02:55:23 UTC,""
7161,"","Searching ""chain"" and ""soul"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-01-11 20:44:07 UTC,"Come! let thy locks (whose every Hair
A willing Lover doth ensnare)
Fetter my Soul, in those soft Chaines,
Where Beauty link't with Love, remains!
And keep me bound, that I may be
Thy Prisoner, yet at Liberty.",,19438,"","""Come! let thy locks (whose every Hair / A willing Lover doth ensnare) / Fetter my Soul, in those soft Chaines, / Where Beauty link't with Love, remains!""",Fetters,2012-01-11 20:44:07 UTC,""
7161,"","Searching ""chain"" and ""soul"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-01-11 20:44:17 UTC,"Come! let thy locks (whose every Hair
A willing Lover doth ensnare)
Fetter my Soul, in those soft Chaines,
Where Beauty link't with Love, remains!
And keep me bound, that I may be
Thy Prisoner, yet at Liberty.",,19439,"",""Come! let thy locks (whose every Hair / A willing Lover doth ensnare) / Fetter my Soul, in those soft Chaines, / Where Beauty link't with Love, remains!""",Fetters,2012-01-11 20:44:17 UTC,""
7165,"","Searching ""chain"" and ""soul"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-01-12 03:04:33 UTC,"Why break'st thou not (my Soul) this Chain
Of Flesh? why lett'st thou that restrain
Thy nimble Flight into his Arms,
Whose only Look with gladness charms?
But (alas!) in vain I speak to thee
Poor Soul! already fled from Me;
To seek out him in whose lov'd Brest,
Thy Life, as mine in thee, doth rest.
(p. 165)",,19446,"","""Why break'st thou not (my Soul) this Chain / Of Flesh? why lett'st thou that restrain / Thy nimble Flight into his Arms, / Whose only Look with gladness charms?""",Fetters,2012-01-12 03:26:07 UTC,""
3626,"","Reading Martin Kallich, ""The Association of Ideas and Critical Theory: Hobbes, Locke, and Addison"" ELH 12:4 (1945): 295n.",2012-01-28 20:25:39 UTC,"The advantages which rhyme has over blank verse, are so many, that it were lost time to name them. Sir Philip Sydney, in his Defence of Poesy, gives us one, which, in my opinion, is not the least considerable; I mean the help it brings to memory: which rhyme so knits up by the affinity of sounds, that by remembering the last word in one line, we often call to mind both the verses. Then in the quickness of repartees, which in discoursive scenes fall very often, it has so particular a grace, and is so aptly suited to them, that the sudden smartness of the answer, and the sweetness of the rhyme, set off the beauty of each other. But that benefit which I consider most in it, because I have not seldom found it, is, that it bounds and circumscribes the fancy: for imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless, that, like an high-ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment. The great easiness of blank verse renders the poet too luxuriant; he is tempted to say many things which might better be omitted, or at least shut up in fewer words: but when the difficulty of artful rhyming is interposed, where the poet commonly confines his sense to his couplet, and must contrive that sense into such words, that the rhyme, shall naturally follow them, not they the rhyme; the fancy then gives leisure to the judgment to come in; which seeing so heavy a tax imposed, is ready to cut off all unnecessary expences. This last consideration has already answered an objection which some have made; that rhyme is only an embroidery of sense, to make that which is ordinary in itself, pass for excellent with less examination. But certainly, that which most regulates the fancy, and gives the judgment its busiest employment, is like to bring forth the richest and clearest thoughts. The poet examines that most which he produceth with the greatest leisure, and which, he knows, must pass the severest test of the audience, because they are aptest to have it ever in their memory; as the stomach makes the best concoction, when it strictly embraces the nourishment, and takes account of every little particle as it passes through. But as the best medicines may lose their virtue by being ill applied, so is it with verse, if a fit subject be not chosen for it. Neither must the argument alone, but the characters and persons, be great and noble; otherwise (as Scaliger says of Claudian) the poet will be ignobiliore materia depressus. The scenes, which, in my opinion, most commend it, are those of argumentation and discourse, on the result of which the doing or not doing some considerable action should depend.",,19547,"","""But that benefit which I consider most in it [rhyme], because I have not seldom found it, is, that it bounds and circumscribes the fancy: for imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless, that, like an high-ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment.""",Fetters,2012-01-28 20:29:25 UTC,""