work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3196,"",Reading,2003-12-03 00:00:00 UTC,"Good God! what an Incongruous Animal is Man? how unsettled in his best part, his soul; and how changing and variable in his frame of body? The constancy of the one, shook by every notion, the temperature of the other, affected by every blast of wind. What an April weather in the mind!
(p. 232)",2009-03-23,8419,"•From a letter to Caryll.
•In the same letter there is a great line: ""Our passions, our interests, flow in upon us, and unphilosophize us into mere mortals"" (233). ","""What an April weather in the mind!""","",2009-09-14 19:33:34 UTC,""
4151,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry); text from ECCO-TCP.,2003-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Of all the Causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring Judgment, and misguide the Mind,
What the weak Head with strongest Byass rules,
Is Pride, the never-failing Vice of Fools.
Whatever Nature has in Worth deny'd,
She gives in large Recruits of needful Pride;
For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find
What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind:
Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence,
And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!
If once right Reason drives that Cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with resistless Day;
Trust not your self; but your Defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry Friend--and ev'ry Foe.
(p. 11; compare II, ll. 201-214 in 1736)",,10680,"","""For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find / What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind: / Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence, / And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!""","",2014-05-08 14:41:37 UTC,Part II
4151,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry); text from ECCO-TCP.,2003-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Of all the Causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring Judgment, and misguide the Mind,
What the weak Head with strongest Byass rules,
Is Pride, the never-failing Vice of Fools.
Whatever Nature has in Worth deny'd,
She gives in large Recruits of needful Pride;
For as in Bodies, thus in Souls, we find
What wants in Blood and Spirits, swell'd with Wind:
Pride, where Wit fails, steps in to our Defence,
And fills up all the mighty Void of Sense!
If once right Reason drives that Cloud away,
Truth breaks upon us with resistless Day;
Trust not your self; but your Defects to know,
Make use of ev'ry Friend--and ev'ry Foe.
(p. 11)",,10722,•I've included twice: Wind and Cloud,"""If once right Reason drives that Cloud away, / Truth breaks upon us with resistless Day.""","",2014-05-08 14:43:47 UTC,Part II
4209,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,"All Night the Chiefs before their Vessels lay,
And lost in Sleep the Labours of the Day:
All but the King; with various Thoughts opprest,
His Country's Cares lay rowling in his Breast.
As when by Light'nings Jove's Ætherial Pow'r
Foretells the ratling Hail, or weighty Show'r,
Or sends soft Snows to whiten all the Shore,
Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar;
By fits one Flash succeeds, as one expires,
And Heav'n flames thick with momentary Fires.
So bursting frequent from Atrides' Breast,
Sighs following Sighs his inward Fears confest.
Now o'er the Fields, dejected, he surveys
From thousand Trojan Fires the mounting Blaze;
Hears in the passing Wind their Music blow,
And marks distinct the Voices of the Foe.
Now looking backwards to the Fleet and Coast,
Anxious he sorrows for th'endanger'd Host.
He rends his Hairs, in sacrifice to Jove ,
And sues to Him that ever lives above:
Inly he groans; while Glory and Despair
Divide his Heart, and wage a doubtful War.
(ll. 1-22)
Verse 3. All but the King , &c.] Homer here with a very small Alteration repeats the Verses which begin the second Book: He introduces Agamemnon with the same Pomp as he did Jupiter ; he ascribes to him the same Watchfulness over Men, as he exercis'd over the Gods, and Jove and Agamemnon are the only Persons awake, while Heaven and Earth are asleep.
Eustathius.
Verse 7. Or sends soft Snows .] Scaliger 's Criticism against this Passage, that it never lightens and snows at the same time, is sufficiently refuted by Experience. See Bossu of the Epic Poem lib. 3. c. 7. and Barnes 's Note on this Place.
Verse 8. Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar .] There is something very noble and sublime in this Image: The vast Jaws of War is an Expression that very poetically represents the Voraciousness of War, and gives us a lively Idea of an insatiate Monster.
Eustathius.
Verse 9. By fits one Flash succeeds , &c.] It requires some Skill in Homer to take the chief Point of his Similitudes; he has often been misunderstood in that respect, and his Comparisons have frequently been strain'd to comply with the Fancies of Commentators. This Comparison which is brought to illustrate the Frequency of Agamemnon 's Sighs, has been usually thought to represent in general the Groans of the King, whereas what Homer had in his view was only the quick Succession of them.
Verse 13. Now o'er the Fields , &c.] Aristotle answers a Criticism of some Censurers of Homer on this Place. They asked how it was that Agamemnon , shut up in his Tent in the Night, could see the Trojan Camp at one view, and the Fleet at another, as the Poet represents it? It is (says Aristotle ) only a metaphorical manner of Speech; To cast one's Eye , means but to reflect upon , or to revolve in one's Mind: and that employ'd Agamemnon 's Thoughts in his Tent, which had been the chief Object of his Eyes the Day before.
Verse 19. He rends his Hairs in sacrifice to Jove. ] I know this Action of Agamemnon has been taken only as a common Expression of Grief, and so indeed it was render'd by Accius , as cited by Tully, Tusc. quæst. l. 3 .Scindens dolore identidem intonsam comam . But whoever reads the Context will, I believe, be of Opinion, that Jupiter is mention'd here on no other Account than as he was apply'd to in the offering of these Hairs, in an humble Supplication to the offended Deity who had so lately manifested his Anger. ",,10920,•I've included verses and the notes on the verses,"""His Country's Cares lay rowling in his Breast. / As when by Light'nings Jove 's Ætherial Pow'r / Foretells the ratling Hail, or weighty Show'r, / Or sends soft Snows to whiten all the Shore, / Or bids the brazen Throat of War to roar; / By fits one Flash succeeds, as one expires, / And Heav'n flames thick with momentary Fires.""","",2016-03-01 06:12:24 UTC,""
4211,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2004-11-24 00:00:00 UTC,"I pass'd this Night in divers Thoughts and Agitations of Mind, having a secret Satisfaction that she had receiv'd the Declaration of my Love so calmly; that Thought more than counterpois'd all that I had to fear from my potent Rival. Thus we suffer our selves to be blown and toss'd by our Passions, without casting Anchor on the Coast of sound Judgment, or steering to the Harbour of right Reason; for when I made a serious Reflection on this Passage, I found how I had overshot my self, in thus declaring my Passion to her, fearing that her nice Vertue would not let her consent to steal away with me into Italy, after this Overture; yet that was the only Card I had to play in this Juncture, and the Method we had partly resolv'd on some Time before. These, and a thousand Things of this Kind, agitated my Thoughts that Night.
(pp. 137-8)",,10957,•I've included twice: Tempest and Ship,"We ""suffer our selves to be blown and toss'd by our Passions, without casting Anchor on the Coast of sound Judgment, or steering to the Harbour of right Reason""","",2009-09-14 19:35:25 UTC,"Vol I, Book iv"
4237,"",Reading,2003-12-03 00:00:00 UTC,"As gods sometimes descend from heav'n and deign
On earth a while with mortals to remain,
So gentle sleep from Serenissa flies,
To dwell at last upon her lover's eyes.
That god's indulgence can she justly crave,
Who flies the tyrant to relieve the slave?
Or should those eyes alone that rest enjoy,
Which in all others they themselves destroy?
Let her whom fear denies repose to take,
Think for her lovewhat crowds of wretches wake.
So us'd to sighs, so long inur'd to tears,
Are winds and tempests dreadful to her ears?
Jove with a nod may bid the world to rest,
But Serenissa must becalm her breast.
(ll. 1-14, p. 3)",,11025,"","""Jove with a nod may bid the world to rest, / But Serenissa must becalm her breast.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:29 UTC,II. Of the Lady Who Could Not Sleep in a Stormy Night
4525,"",HDIS,2003-11-03 00:00:00 UTC,"Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear,
Were there all harmony, all virtue here;
That never air or ocean felt the wind;
That never passion discompos'd the mind:
But All subsists by elemental strife;
And Passions are the Elements of life.
The gen'ral Order, since the whole began
Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man.
What would this man? now upward will he soar,
And little less than Angel, would be more;
Now looking downward, just as griev'd appears.
To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears.
Made for his use all creatures if he call,
Say what their use, had he the pow'rs of all?
Nature to these, without profusion kind,
The proper organs, proper pow'rs assign'd;
Each seeming want compensated of course
Here, with degrees of swiftness, there, of force;
All in exact proportion to the state,
Nothing to add, and nothing to abate.
Each beast, each insect, happy in its own,
Is heav'n unkind to man, and man alone?
Shall he alone whom rational we call,
Be pleas'd with nothing, if not bless'd with all?
(Epistle I, ll. 165-88)
",,11875,"","""Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear, / Were there all harmony, all virtue here; / That never air or ocean felt the wind; /That never passion discompos'd the mind: / But All subsists by elemental strife; / And Passions are the Elements of life. ""","",2009-09-14 19:36:21 UTC,Epistle I
4525,"",HDIS,2003-11-04 00:00:00 UTC,"In lazy Apathy let Stoics boast
Their virtue fix'd; 'tis fix'd as in a frost,
Contracted all, retiring to the breast;
But strength of mind is exercise, not rest:
The rising tempest puts in act the soul,
Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole.
On Life's vast ocean diversely we sail,
Reason the card, but Passion is the gale:
Nor God alone in the still calm we find;
He mounts the storm, and walks upon the Wind .
(Epistle II, ll. 101-110)
",,11876,"•I've included twice: 'Card' and 'Gale'
•Note that ""card"" is a mariner's chart. Shaftesbury uses a similar metaphor in Soliloquy: ""Thus much for antiquity and those rules of art, those philosophical seacards by which the adventurous geniuses of the times ere wont to steer their courses and govern their impetuous muse"" (92).
•Are the previous lines worthy of entries? REVISIT","""On Life's vast ocean diversely we sail, / Reason the card, but Passion is the gale.""","",2009-09-14 19:36:21 UTC,Epistle II
4525,Ruling Passion,HDIS,2004-05-25 00:00:00 UTC,"Yes, Nature's road must ever be prefer'd;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard:
'Tis hers to rectify, not to overthrow,
And treat this passion more as friend than foe:
A mightier Pow'r the strong direction sends,
And sev'ral Men impels to sev'ral ends.
Like varying winds, by other passions tost,
This drives them constant to a certain coast.
Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease;
Thro life 'tis followed, ev'n at life's expence;
The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence,
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,
All, all alike, find Reason on their side.
(Epistle II, ll. 161-74)",,11895,"","""A mightier Pow'r the strong direction sends, / And sev'ral Men impels to sev'ral ends. / Like varying winds, by other passions tost, / This drives them constant to a certain coast.""","",2009-09-14 19:36:22 UTC,Epistle II
4727,Will-o'-the-Wisp (Ignis Fatuus),HDIS (Poetry),2003-09-29 00:00:00 UTC,"Then he: Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end;
E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
O thou! of Bus'ness the directing soul!
To this our head like byass to the bowl,
Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely wadling to the mark in view:
O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,
Still spread a healing mist before the mind ;
And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light,
Secure us kindly in our native night.
Or, if to Wit a coxcomb make pretence,
Guard the sure barrier between that and Sense;
Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,
And hang some curious cobweb in its stead!
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous slugs cut swiftly thro the sky;
As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,
The wheels above urg'd by the load below:
Me Emptiness, and Dulness could inspire,
And were my Elasticity, and Fire.
",2003-10-23,12469,"•I've neglected ""Wit"" which deserves its own entry.
•I've split this into two entries: 'Weather': 'Mist' and 'Optics': 'Light'
• Going back through and putting in Ignis-Fatuus. Combined entries and deleted duplicate.","""Still spread a healing mist before the mind; / And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light, / Secure us kindly in our native night.""","",2011-05-20 17:06:22 UTC,""