"Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind, / Softens the high, and rears the abject Mind; / Knows with just Reins, and gentle Hand to guide, / Betwixt vile Shame, and arbitrary Pride."

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Author

Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Work Title

Charity. A Paraphrase of the Thirteenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. [from Tonson's Miscellanies]

Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1704
Metaphor
"Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind, / Softens the high, and rears the abject Mind; / Knows with just Reins, and gentle Hand to guide, / Betwixt vile Shame, and arbitrary Pride."
Metaphor in Context
Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject Mind;
Knows with just Reins, and gentle Hand to guide,
Betwixt vile Shame, and arbitrary Pride.
Not soon provok'd, She easily forgives;
And much She suffers, as She much believes.
Soft Peace She brings where-ever She arrives:
She builds our Quiet, as She forms our Lives;
Lays the rough Paths of peevish Nature ev'n;
And opens in each Heart a little Heav'n.
(p. 208, ll. 17-26)
Categories
Animals::Horse::Reins and Bridle
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Text from The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).

See also Poetical Miscellanies: The Fifth Part. Containing a Collection of Original Poems, With Several New Translations. By the most Eminent Hands. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1704), pp. 205-9. <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
02/25/2004
Date of Review
03/11/2010

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