"Our Understanding they [the passions] with darkness fill, / Cause strange Conceptions, and pervert the Will."
— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Basset ... and Sold by Fr. Hicks [etc.]
Date
1699
Metaphor
"Our Understanding they [the passions] with darkness fill, / Cause strange Conceptions, and pervert the Will."
Metaphor in Context
The Passions still predominant will rule:
Uncivil, rude, nor bred in Reason's School:
Our Understanding they with darkness fill,
Cause strange Conceptions, and pervert the Will.
On these the Soul, as on some flowing tide,
Must sit, and on the swelling Billows ride;
Hurry'd away, for how can be withstood
Th' Impetuous Torrent of the boyling blood?
Be gone false hopes, for all our Learning's vain,
Can we be free when these the rule maintain?
These are the tools of Knowledge which we use,
The spirits heated will strange things produce.
Tell me who e'er the Passions could controul,
Or from the body disengage the soul:
Till this is done, our best persuits are vain
To conquer Truth, and unmixt knowledge gain.
(p. 6)
Uncivil, rude, nor bred in Reason's School:
Our Understanding they with darkness fill,
Cause strange Conceptions, and pervert the Will.
On these the Soul, as on some flowing tide,
Must sit, and on the swelling Billows ride;
Hurry'd away, for how can be withstood
Th' Impetuous Torrent of the boyling blood?
Be gone false hopes, for all our Learning's vain,
Can we be free when these the rule maintain?
These are the tools of Knowledge which we use,
The spirits heated will strange things produce.
Tell me who e'er the Passions could controul,
Or from the body disengage the soul:
Till this is done, our best persuits are vain
To conquer Truth, and unmixt knowledge gain.
(p. 6)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); Browsing in EEBO
Citation
John Pomfret, The Sceptical Muse: or, A Paradox on Humane Understanding. A Poem (London: Printed for R. Basset and Sold by Fr. Hicks, 1699). <Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
06/22/2004
Date of Review
07/18/2011
