"O stamp upon my Soul / Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd / To call my Passions and my Eyes aside / From the dear breathless Clay."
— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Humfreys, for N. Cliff
Date
1709
Metaphor
"O stamp upon my Soul / Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd / To call my Passions and my Eyes aside / From the dear breathless Clay."
Metaphor in Context
Or lies she now before th' Eternal Throne
Prostrate in humble Form, with deep Devotion
O'erwhelm'd, and Self-abasement at the Sight
Of the uncover'd God-head Face to Face?
Seraphic Crowns pay Homage at his Feet,
And Hers amongst them, not of dimmer Oar,
Nor set with meaner Gems: But vain Ambition,
And Emulation vain, and fond Conceit,
And Pride for ever banish'd flies the Place,
Curst Pride, the Dres of Hell. Tell me, Urania,
How her Joys heighten, and her golden Hours
Circle in Love. O stamp upon my Soul
Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd
To call my Passions and my Eyes aside
From the dear breathless Clay, Distressing Sight!
I look and mourn and gaze with greedy View
Of melancholy Fondness; Tears bedewing
That Form so late desir'd, so late belov'd,
Now loathsome and unlovely. Base Disease,
That leagu'd with Nature's sharpest Pains, and spoil'd
So sweet a Structure! The impoysoning Taint
O'erspreads the Building wrought with Skill divine,
And ruins the rich Temple to the Dust!
(p. 306-7)
Prostrate in humble Form, with deep Devotion
O'erwhelm'd, and Self-abasement at the Sight
Of the uncover'd God-head Face to Face?
Seraphic Crowns pay Homage at his Feet,
And Hers amongst them, not of dimmer Oar,
Nor set with meaner Gems: But vain Ambition,
And Emulation vain, and fond Conceit,
And Pride for ever banish'd flies the Place,
Curst Pride, the Dres of Hell. Tell me, Urania,
How her Joys heighten, and her golden Hours
Circle in Love. O stamp upon my Soul
Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd
To call my Passions and my Eyes aside
From the dear breathless Clay, Distressing Sight!
I look and mourn and gaze with greedy View
Of melancholy Fondness; Tears bedewing
That Form so late desir'd, so late belov'd,
Now loathsome and unlovely. Base Disease,
That leagu'd with Nature's sharpest Pains, and spoil'd
So sweet a Structure! The impoysoning Taint
O'erspreads the Building wrought with Skill divine,
And ruins the rich Temple to the Dust!
(p. 306-7)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "stamp" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry); found again
Citation
35 entries in ESTC (1709, 1715, 1731, 1737, 1743, 1748, 1750, 1751, 1753, 1758, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1770, 1772, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1785, 1786, 1788, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799). Compare two-book and three-book versions.
See Isaac Watts, Horæ Lyricæ. Poems Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Three Books, 2nd ed. (London: Printed by J. Humfreys, for N. Cliff, 1709). <Link to ECCO>
Searching The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D., 6 vols. (London: Printed by and for John Barfield, 1810).
See Isaac Watts, Horæ Lyricæ. Poems Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Three Books, 2nd ed. (London: Printed by J. Humfreys, for N. Cliff, 1709). <Link to ECCO>
Searching The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D., 6 vols. (London: Printed by and for John Barfield, 1810).
Date of Entry
04/08/2005
Date of Review
07/20/2011
