work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5717,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-09 00:00:00 UTC,"""These"" said the Muse, ""are subjects for thy song!
""Let themes like these thy manly strain prolong.
--""Does pining Merit in Oppression live?
""Give that protection which the Muse can give.
--""Does Patriot Virtue strive, but strive in vain,
""Its Country's dear-bought Freedom to maintain?
""Dare to support that long-deserted cause,
""And give, tho' Crowns oppose thee, give applause!
--""Is there a Man, who, from his earliest youth,
""Ne'er felt a sense of Honour or of Truth;
""Whose heart ne'er struggled with a wish for Fame,
""Whose cheek ne'er bore the blush of honest Shame;
""Vice his sole good, Himself his only end,
""The lurking Foe, the hypocritic Friend?
""If such an one there be, his bosom bare,--
""Show his black heart, and guide the Vultures there.
--""Should the vile Priest, for Lucre's filthy gain,
""Give up his Flock to join the courtly Train;
""Should he forsake the path his Saviour trod,
""And proudly turn his Back upon his God;
""Tho' Mitres crown him, break his golden Rest,
""And 'wake a troubled Conscience in his breast.
--""Does Beauty, swerving from its Maker's plan
""To be the Solace and the Joy of Man,
""Spurning at Fame and Honour's mild decree,
""Drink, with delight, the dregs of Infamy?
--""Does Man, so made to cherish, first betray,
""Then leave the Victim to the World a Prey?
""Let not thy Verse its angry scourge forbear,
""Nor veil the shameless Wanton's last despair.
--""Should frolic Youth, by mast'ring Passions led,
""In Folly's fair but treach'rous mazes tread,
""With cunning skill, and well-imagin'd care,
""Full in his view expose the lurking snare;
""And strive, by just degrees and friendly art,
""To 'wake the Virtue slumb'ring in his Heart.
--""Is there a Man, who, wealthy to no end,
""Ne'er knew the common wish to be a Friend,
""Whose callous Heart's to all Compassion steel'd?--
""Scourge him!--nor fear the wit of Chesterfield.
--""Do hireling Statesmen, in Corruption bold,
""Sell their poor Country as themselves are sold?
""With noble courage let thy Patriot Song
""Inflame a Nation to revenge its wrong.
--""Is there a Monarch, by mad Folly led,
""And under something worse than Folly bred;--
""Who would his People's sacred Rights betray,
""And longs to rule them with tyrannic Sway?--
""Exalt thy Strain, nor be the silly Thing
""That fears to speak of Justice to a King;--
""Deep in his Bosom plant the conscious Groan,--
""Nor spare a Vice,--tho' seated on a Throne.""--",,15246,•I've included twive: Callous and Steel,"""'Is there a Man, who, wealthy to no end, / 'Ne'er knew the common wish to be a Friend, / 'Whose callous Heart's to all Compassion steel'd?""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:08 UTC,""
6173,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2006-02-22 00:00:00 UTC,"IT has been said, that Man, by Nature,
Is but a superstitious Creature.
If I err not, 'twas Burke's opinion,
And he may seem to claim dominion,
As a Philosopher and Sage,
In this illuminated age,
Which his superior mind adorn'd,
And through whose years he will be mourn'd;
Nor in what doth to Man belong,
Am I dispos'd to think him wrong,
--If we look through th'historic page,
And travel on from Age to Age,
It will to our research appear,
As the Meridian Phoebus clear
What notions strange, Men have conceiv'd
What contraries they have believ'd:
In ev'ry time, 'neath ev'ry sky,
We see the same Credulity.
The Pagan Augurs swore they knew
Why Birds or this or that way flew;
And Oracles proclaim'd the Law
To keep the vulgar Folk in awe,
While the keen Conj'rors of the State
Assum'd to know the will of Fate.
The monkish Ages then succeed,
Govern'd by superstition's creed,
When mystic men in holy robe,
O'er-run one quarter of the globe:--
Nay, in this most enlighten'd Age,
So philosophic and so sage,
When Knowledge is so much the rage,
E'en now we see the human mind,
On many strange occasions blind:
Not when she chuses to dispense
Her pleasures to each diff'rent sense,
But, as she in her fancy varies,
Her idle whimsies and vagaries.",,16342,"","""E'en now we see the human mind, / On many strange occasions blind""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:46:34 UTC,""
6196,Mind's Eye,Searching HDIS (Poetry),2004-06-15 00:00:00 UTC,"""No harsh, pedantic Censor I,
""To preach up gloomy Sanctity;
""Youth's lively season claims its pleasure,
""But just in mode and wise in measure,
""Whose hours, by Virtue's smiles refin'd,
""Leave no regrets or pain behind.
""Court the gay Muse to whom belong
""The chasten'd jest, the pleasing song;
""But would you nobler thoughts inspire,
""The Masters of the Grecian Lyre,
""Or Latian Bards, by Phoebus taught,
""Will please and elevate the thought.
""Nor ask their powerful aid alone;--
""Join those we proudly call our own:
""Immortal Shakespeare--Milton's rhyme,
""That soars beyond the bounds of Time;
""With Dryden, in whose verse we trace
""A blended energy and grace;
""And Pope, whose sweet harmonious lays
""The mind delights in, and obeys;
""With Gray, in Elegiac pride,
""And the free verse of Akenside.
""--These, as they charm, with taste refin'd
""Will decorate the expanding mind;
""And thus a secret grace convey
""To all you do, and all you say;
""Smooth the dull brow of wrinkling care,
""And chase the thought that may ensnare.
""--Nor these alone, th'historic page,
""Of ev'ry race, of every age,
""Displays the long and various story:
""Heroes that liv'd or died in glory,
""Patriots, who their country sav'd,
""Tyrants, who mankind enslav'd,
""Sages, whose high-gifted powers
""That knowledge taught which now is ours,
""The Pictures form of human kind,
""Of every feeling of the mind,
""As in social man we see,
""Or the wide range of Policy;--
""Hence they a sage experience give,
""E'en to the times in which we live;
""And frame a Lesson to supply
""The Ages of Posterity.
""--With these Instructors may be join'd
""To strengthen and enrich the mind,
""Science, whose powers profound impart,
""Whate'er of nature and of art
""Presents to th'intellectual eye,
""In all the vast variety:
""While Philosophic Lore combines
""The various Labour, and confines
""In their due regulated sphere
""The essential parts of Character;
""And, as the Mistress of the Soul,
""Let mild Religion crown the whole:--
""That power, which commands the thought
""To think the very thing we ought;
""And holds up to our solemn view
""What we should shun, and what pursue.
""--O let not Sloth depress to earth
""Those early blossoms in their birth,
""Which to your ripening mind is given,
""To bloom through time, then rise to heaven!
""Awake your nature and expand
""Its powers; with attentive hand
""Prune its Luxuriance; and prepare
""Each branch the expected Fruit to bear.
""But think not in your jovial hours,
""When Riot rules and Reason lours,
""That time is actively employ'd:
""'Tis then, I say, that Time's destroy'd,
""At least, e'en Truth itself may say,
""'Tis wasted, squander'd, thrown away:
""For Folly's vigour and excess
""Is nought but active Idleness.",2011-11-24,16377,"","""With these Instructors may be join'd / To strengthen and enrich the mind, / Science, whose powers profound impart, / Whate'er of nature and of art / Presents to th'intellectual eye, / In all the vast variety.""",Eye,2011-11-25 01:19:18 UTC,""
6196,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-03-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus will the mental artist scan
The changeful state and powers of man:
Each various being will display
Inform'd with Life and Reason's ray;
And his weak, feebler force combine
With strength and energy divine.
He views him groveling, sad and low,
The child of misery and woe:
Anon he sees him rich and great,
Clothed in the plenitude of state.
The lights and shades, in contrast due,
Relieve each other in the view:
Alike the moral painter's part
T'obey the rules of studious art;
Thus to attract the mental eye
With height'ning variety;--
And as the pencil truly gives
Each form that on the canvas lives,
To make his pen adopt the plan,
In picturing the mind of man.
Oft must he quit the tow'ring aim
Of wisdom, and the boast of fame
To view the sport where folly plays
And courts the flatt'rer's empty praise.
The labourer who tills the soil,
Whose bread is gain'd by daily toil;
The humble home within the dale,
Which no rude storms of Life assail,
Present their subjects to the eye,
As chance unfolds the scenery.
The lofty turrets too must share
His contemplation's watchful care,
Where the old halls with banners gay,
The pride of ancient times display:
He too, in modern domes will trace
Bright Fashion's more luxuriant grace:
While at the costly sumptuous board,
Some Dives rules, the pamper'd Lord:
But even there the eye may see
The heaven-born form of Charity:
E'en in those scenes where lux'ry reigns,
The ear attends when man complains.
In ev'ry corner of our Isle
The kind and healing virtues smile;
And pining penury commands
The melting hearts, the op'ning hands:
There, if a Lazarus asks for bread,
The humble mendicant is fed.",,16387,"INTEREST. A ""mental artist""!?","""The lights and shades, in contrast due, / Relieve each other in the view: / Alike the moral painter's part / T'obey the rules of studious art; / Thus to attract the mental eye / With height'ning variety;-- / And as the pencil truly gives / Each form that on the canvas lives, / To make his pen adopt the plan, / In picturing the mind of man.""","",2011-11-25 01:14:49 UTC,""
6230,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""eye"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2006-04-17 00:00:00 UTC,"On errands of this grave intent,
Quæ Genus now and then was sent,
And how he did his plans arrange,
Or in what shape place the exchange:
How he contriv'd these sly affairs,
Paid soon, or lengthen'd the arrears,
Of this we know not more nor less,
For we ne'er heard his tongue confess,
And 'twould be wasting time to guess.
But, somehow, he contriv'd to please,
By grace or guile, old Master Squeeze,
And by some strange, peculiar art,
He gain'd upon the Us'rer's heart,
If an heart such a being owns,
Who chuckles when misfortune moans,
At least, when that is understood
To be a vessel fraught with good.
But to proceed, the mind's keen eye
Of Squeezing Jack, thought he could spy
In our Quæ Genus that quick sense,
Which might reward his confidence;
That wary, penetrating thought,
Which could not be too dearly bought,
And in his present, sickly trim,
Would be of golden use to him:
For he grew old and wanted aid,
In his nice calculating trade.
In short, in every point of view,
As one who certain fancies knew,
The old man felt that he would do,
And that he could his interest make
A station at the desk to take.",,16511,"","""But to proceed, the mind's keen eye / Of Squeezing Jack, thought he could spy / In our Quæ Genus that quick sense, / Which might reward his confidence""",Eye,2009-09-14 19:47:06 UTC,""
6234,"","Searching ""soul"" and ""alloy"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-04-14 00:00:00 UTC," Of Love I sing--not of that treach'rous Boy
To whom the impure Venus erst gave birth,
Whose venom'd shafts empoison mortal joy,
Confounding honour, virtue, rank, and worth;
Whose midnight orgies stamp on lawless mirth
The forged image of celestial pleasure,
Drawing from heav'n the soul of man to earth,
With foul alloy debasing purest treasure--
That Boy, and that Boy's deeds shall not pollute my measure!",,16524,I've included twice: Alloy and Treasure,"The ""venom'd shafts"" of Cupid ""empoison mortal joy,"" ""Drawing from heav'n the soul of man to earth, / With foul alloy debasing purest treasure.""",Metal,2013-06-11 19:15:30 UTC,""
6346,Mind's Eye,"Searching ""mind"" and ""eye"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2006-04-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Now Syntax did his way pursue As other lonely trav'llers do:But he did this old maxim own, Ne'er to be lonely when alone:For he could call from ev'ry age, The Bard, the Hero and the Sage,From annals of recording fame, He could disclose each fav'rite name,And whether in his easy chair He sat with comtemplative air,Or did, in solemn musings rove Beside the stream or in the grove;Or mounted on his palfrey gay He journeyed onward through the day,He could call forth to his mind's eye, That bright, select society,Who never, when he ask'd their aid, The pleasing summons disobey'd, But did the lengthen'd way beguile Full many an hour and many a mile.",,16807,"","""He could call forth to his mind's eye, That bright, select society, / Who never, when he ask'd their aid, The pleasing summons disobey'd, / But did the lengthen'd way beguile / Full many an hour and many a mile.""",Eye,2009-09-14 19:48:03 UTC,""