"The streiten'd Intellect immur'd does lie, / Shut up within a narrow place, / Till Nature does enlarge the Space, / And by degrees the Organs fit, / For those great Operations which are wrought by it."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. B. for Bernard Lintott [etc.]
Date
1703
Metaphor
"The streiten'd Intellect immur'd does lie, / Shut up within a narrow place, / Till Nature does enlarge the Space, / And by degrees the Organs fit, / For those great Operations which are wrought by it."
Metaphor in Context
No State of Life's from Troubles free,
Grief mixes with our vital Breath:
As soon as we begin to be,
From the first moment of our Birth,
We have some tast of Misery:
With Sighs and Tears our Fate we mourn,
As if our Infant Reason did presage
Th' approaching Ills of our maturer Age,
And wish'd a quick Return.
When Souls are first to their close Rooms confin'd,
Nothing of their Celestial Make is seen,
Obscuring Earth does interpose between:
Like Tapers hid in Urns they shine.
The Life of Sense and Growth we only see,
Which Beasts enjoy as well as we:
But th' active Mind
Which bears the Image of the Pow'r Divine,
Cannot exert its Energy:
The streiten'd Intellect immur'd does lie,
Shut up within a narrow place,
Till Nature does enlarge the Space,
And by degrees the Organs fit,
For those great Operations which are wrought by it
.
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in the ESTC (1703, 1709, 1713, 1722, 1750).

The Lady Chudleigh, Poems on Several Occasions. Together with the Song of the Three Children Paraphras'd (London: Bernard Lintott, 1703). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
08/29/2005
Date of Review
07/02/2012

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.