work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4004,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2006-03-07 00:00:00 UTC,"O that my Mind were cent'red where it ought!
Entirely freed from all distracting Thought:
Vain wandring Thoughts, that crowd within my Breast
Do oft obstruct my Soul from Solid Rest;
And, like to vagrant Clouds, obscure the Mind
Which should to serious watching be inclin'd:
Ah! Rise thou Sun of Righteousness, thy Light
Can soon dispel the Gloominess of Night:
Appear, appear, let thy Victorious Ray,
And long'd-for Presence, still renew the Day;
Whereby my slumb'ring Eyes may walk and see
The Dawning Morning of Felicity,
Still more and more break forth to perfect Day,
Whose Heav'nly Light guides in the Blessed Way,
That leads to thy renowned Holy Hill;
Where true Obedience to thy Sacred Will
Makes glad the Hearts of thy Redeemed Ones,
Who know the Comfort of Adopted Sons;
And can sing Praises to that Gracious Hand,
Which rais'd 'em up, and taught 'em how to stand,
To walk and run the pleasant Paths of Peace,
Rejoycing in true Joys that never cease.",2013-06-04,10387,"","""Vain wandring Thoughts, that crowd within my Breast / Do oft obstruct my Soul from Solid Rest; / like to vagrant Clouds, obscure the Mind / Which should to serious watching be inclin'd.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-04 16:07:02 UTC,I've included the entire poem
4102,"",Reading,2009-09-14 19:35:05 UTC,"How soft the first ideas prove,
Which wander through our minds!
How full of joys, how free the love
Which does that early season move,
As flowers the western winds!
Our sighs are then but vernal air,
But April-drops our tears,
Which swiftly passing, all grows fair,
Whilst beauty compensates our care,
And youth each vapour clears
(ll. 16-25, p. 9)",2003-10-22,10558,"•The poem becomes darker after these stanzas: thorns, winter, and then (albeit ""gladly sinking to"") rest.
•I am now including personifications in greater earnest (10/22/2003)","""How soft the first ideas prove, / Which wander through our minds!""",Inhabitants,2013-06-04 16:09:01 UTC,""
4141,"",HDIS (Poetry),2004-07-27 00:00:00 UTC,"The Mind no nobler Wisdom can attain,
Than to inspect and study all the Man:
His awful Looks confess the Race Divine;
In him the Beauties of the Godhead shine:
With Majesty he fills great Reason's Throne,
The Subject World their rightful Monarch own:
His ranging Soul in narrow Bounds contains
All Nature's Works, o'er which in Peace he reigns;
His Head resembles Jove's Eternal Seat,
In which Inthron'd, he sways the Heav'nly State,
And with assembled Gods, consults of Fate:
The feather'd Envoys, all in shining Crowds;
Attend his Throne, and watch his awful Nods:
Catch his Commands, and thro' the Liquid Air
To the low World the Sacred Errand bear:
Just so the Head of Man contains within
The Intellect, with Rays and Light Divine:
The Senses stand around; the Spirits roam
To seize and bring the fleeting Objects home:
Thro' every Nerve and every Pore they pass,
And fill with chearful Light the gloomy Space;
The Heart, the Center of the manly Breast,
Just like the Sun, in lovely Purple drest,
Diffuses all the Liquid Crimson round,
Whence Life, and Vigour, Heat and Strength abound:
And as great Phoebus sometimes rages high,
And scorches with his Beams the sultry Sky:
So when the Heart with Rage, or flaming Ire,
Grows warm, or burns with Love's consuming Fire:
The catching Virals spread the Flames afar.
And all the Limbs the hot Contagion share,
As solid Shores contain the liquid Seas,
Just so the Stomach, a soft watry Mass,
Stagnates beneath and fills the lower Space:
Here, Winds, and Rains, and humid Vapours lie,
And these exhal'd with Heat, all upwards fly:
As mantling Clouds conceal the fickly Sun,
Dissolve in Dew and drive the Tempest down:
So when thick Humours from the Stomach rise,
They damp the Soul, and sprightly Faculties:
Then Night and Death their gloomy Shades display,
Till the bright Spark within, the heav'nly Ray,
Dispels the Darkness, and restores the Day.
",,10646,"","""The Senses stand around; the Spirits roam / To seize and bring the fleeting Objects home: / Thro' every Nerve and every Pore they pass.""",Empire,2013-06-26 17:16:56 UTC,""
4171,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-04 00:00:00 UTC,"Those which from fair and comely Objects fly,
By their own Smoothness please th'affected Eye:
Thro' the Sight's Pores round little Globules steal,
And the charm'd Senses a strange Pleasure feel.
With secret Joy the Soul it self is seiz'd,
And with th'agreeable Idolum pleas'd.
Which wand'ring from the Eyes by Ways unknown,
O'er the soft Bowels and warm Heart is thrown,
And ming'ling in the Womb the fair Idea's sown.
By which kind Nature models her Design;
With forming Hand she Works each beauteous Line,
And all delightsom Things in the Composure joyn.
But if th'Idola from foul Figures rise,
Their roughness Shocks the Soul, and Wounds the Eyes.
And, as with Spears, which grow from bladed Corn,
Invade the Mind, and make the Senses mourn.
Whence strange Dislike surprizes every Part,
And fills with Horrour the recoiling Heart;
Which, thus Contract, does th'ill-form'd Image throw
Into the Womb, and there th'unpleasing Figure sow.
By which Direction, Nature shapes her Aim,
Distorts the Limbs, or does the Piece Defame
With Features most Deform'd; the weeping Mother's Shame.
And, as we often by Experience find,
If a vile Body cloth as vile a Mind,
The World, which by the Looks does Actions scan,
Will in the Child condemn the future Man.",2013-06-04,10773,•I've included twice: Sowing and Wandering,"""Thro' the Sight's Pores round little Globules steal, / And the charm'd Senses a strange Pleasure feel. / With secret Joy the Soul it self is seiz'd, / And with th'agreeable Idolum pleas'd. / Which wand'ring from the Eyes by Ways unknown, / O'er the soft Bowels and warm Heart is thrown, / And ming'ling in the Womb the fair Idea's sown.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-04 16:12:51 UTC,""
4167,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Objects, which thro' the Senses make their Way,
And just Impressions to the Soul convey,
Give her Occasion first her self to move,
And to exert her Hatred, or her Love.
Ideas, which to some impulsive seem,
Act not upon the Mind, but That on them.
When she to foreign Objects Audience gives,
Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives,
As these Perceptions we Ideas name,
From her own Pow'r and active Nature came,
So when discern'd by Intellectual Light,
Her self her various Passions does excite,
To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite:
To shun the first, the latter to procure,
She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.
She can their various Habitudes survey,
Debate their Fitness, and their Merit weigh,
And while the Means suggested she compares,
She to the Rivals This or That prefers.
(VII, ll. 446-464, pp. 338-9)
",,10781,•INTEREST. RICH passage. I've cut and pasted the whole book for study.,"""When she to foreign Objects Audience gives, / Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives, / As these Perceptions we Ideas name, / From her own Pow'r and active Nature came, / So when discern'd by Intellectual Light, / Her self her various Passions does excite, / To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite: /
To shun the first, the latter to procure, / She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.""",Empire and Inhabitants,2013-08-07 14:35:43 UTC,Book VII
4167,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-18 00:00:00 UTC,"These Out-guards of the Mind are sent abroad,
And still patrolling beat the neighb'ring Road:
Or to the Parts remote obedient fly,
Keep Posts advanc'd, and on the Frontier lye.
The watchful Centinels at ev'ry Gate,
At ev'ry Passage to the Senses wait.
Still travel to and fro the Nervous way,
And their Impressions to the Brain convey,
Where their Report the Vital Envoys make,
And with new Orders are remanded back.
Quick, as a darted Beam of Light, they go,
Thro' diff'rent Paths to diff'rent Organs flow,
Whence they reflect as swiftly to the Brain,
To give it Pleasure, or to give it Pain.
(VI, ll. 670-683, pp. 305-6)",,10784,"","""Still travel to and fro the Nervous way, / And their Impressions to the Brain convey, / Where their Report the Vital Envoys make, / And with new Orders are remanded back.""",Inhabitants,2013-08-07 14:45:08 UTC,Book VI
4167,"","Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again ""fancy"" and ""theat""",2005-08-28 00:00:00 UTC,"The ready Phantomes at her Nod advance,
And form the busie Intellectual Dance:
While her fair Scenes to vary, or supply,
She singles out fit Images, that lye
In Memory's Records, which faithful hold
Objects immense in secret Marks inroll'd,
The sleeping Forms at her Command awake,
And now return, and now their Cells forsake;
On active Fancy's crowded Theater,
As she directs, they rise or disappear.
(VII, ll. 436-445, pp. 337-8)",2012-01-12,10797,"•INTEREST. Cross-reference: Hume's metaphor from the Treatise.
•Rich Passage. REVISIT.
•I've included twice: Theater and Crowd
•Cross-reference: Blackmore uses the same metaphor in Redemption.
• USE IN ENTRY.","""The ready Phantomes at her Nod advance, / And form the busie Intellectual Dance: / While her fair Scenes to vary, or supply, / She singles out fit Images, that lye / In Memory's Records, which faithful hold / Objects immense in secret Marks inroll'd, / The sleeping Forms at her Command awake, / And now return, and now their Cells forsake; / On active Fancy's crowded Theater, / As she directs, they rise or disappear.""",Rooms and Inhabitants and Writing,2013-08-07 15:23:51 UTC,Book VII
4155,Animal Spirits,"Reading. Encountered again in Jayne Lewis's ""Dialectic of Bewilderment,"" Eighteenth-Century Fiction 31, no. 3 (Spring 2019): 575–595, 575.",2012-04-10 20:59:47 UTC,"Misom
Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect.
Phil.
I would so: And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.
(pp. 130-1)",,19677,RICH PASSAGE. INTEREST. REVISIT.,"""And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking, in quest of the Images we want, and when we have forgot a Word or Sentence, which yet we are sure the great Treasury of Images received our Memory has once been charged with, we may almost feel how some of the Spirits flying through all the Mazes and Meanders rommage the whole substance of the Brain; whilst others ferret themselves into the inmost recesses of it with so much eagerness and labour, that the difficulty they meet with some times makes us uneasie, and they often bewilder themselves in their search, till at last they light by chance on the Image that contains what they look'd for, or else dragging it, as it were, by piece-meals from the dark Caverns of oblivion, represent what they can find of it to our Imagination.""",Inhabitants,2020-07-14 18:00:25 UTC,""
7565,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-25 03:53:43 UTC,"SEOFRID.
Fools that we are! to vex the lab'ring Brain,
And waste decaying Nature thus with Thought;
To keep the weary Spirits waking still;
To goad and drive 'em in eternal Rounds
Of restless wracking Care; 'tis all in vain.
Blind Goddess Chance! henceforth I follow thee.
The Politicians of the World may talk,
May make a mighty Bustle with their Foresight,
Their Schemes and Arts; their Wisdom is thy Slave.
(V.i, p. 49)",,22031,"","""Fools that we are! to vex the lab'ring Brain, / And waste decaying Nature thus with Thought; / To keep the weary Spirits waking still; / To goad and drive 'em in eternal Rounds / Of restless wracking Care; 'tis all in vain. / Blind Goddess Chance! henceforth I follow thee.""",Inhabitants,2013-07-25 03:53:55 UTC,"Act V, scene i"
7864,Stranger Within,Reading work in progress by Sarah Kareem.,2014-04-12 22:29:52 UTC,"Yet the silly wand'ring mind,
Loth to be too much confin'd,
Roves and takes her daily tours,
Coasting round the narrow shores,
Narrow shores of flesh and sense,
Picking shells and pebbles thence:
Or she sits at fancy's door,
Calling shapes and shadows to her,
Foreign visits still receiving,
And t'herself a stranger living.
Never, never would she buy
Indian dust, or Tyrian dye,
Never trade abroad for more,
If she saw her native store,
If her inward worth were known
She might ever live alone.
(p. 470, ll. 59-74)",,23778,"","""Yet the silly wand'ring mind, / Loth to be too much confin'd, / Roves and takes her daily tours, / Coasting round the narrow shores, / Narrow shores of flesh and sense, / Picking shells and pebbles thence: / Or she sits at fancy's door, / Calling shapes and shadows to her, / Foreign visits still receiving, / And t'herself a stranger living.""",Inhabitants,2014-04-12 22:29:52 UTC,""