"The Marble Heart groans with an inward Wound: / Blaspheming Souls of harden'd Steel / Shriek out amaz'd at the new Pangs they feel, / And dread the Eccho's of the Sound."
— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence
Date
1706
Metaphor
"The Marble Heart groans with an inward Wound: / Blaspheming Souls of harden'd Steel / Shriek out amaz'd at the new Pangs they feel, / And dread the Eccho's of the Sound."
Metaphor in Context
But Heavenly Scenes soon leave the Sight
While we belong to Clay,
Passions of Terror and Delight
Demand alternate Sway.
Behold the Man whose awful Voice
Could well proclaim the Fiery Law,
Kindle the Flames that Moses saw,
And swell the Trumpets Warlike noise.
He stands, the Herald of the Threatning Skies,
Lo, on his Reverend Brow the Frowns Divinely rise,
All Sinai's Thunder on his Tongue, and Lightning in his Eyes.
Round the high Roof the Cursès flew
Distinguishing each guilty Head,
Far from th' unequal War the Atheist fled,
His Kindled Arrows still pursue,
His Arrows strike the Atheist thro',
And fix him down to Dread.
The Marble Heart groans with an inward Wound:
Blaspheming Souls of harden'd Steel
Shriek out amaz'd at the new Pangs they feel,
And dread the Eccho's of the Sound.
The Lofty Wretch Arm'd and Array'd
In gaudy Pride sinks down his Impious Head,
Plunges in dark Despair, and mingles with the Dead.
(pp. 256-7 in 1706 ed.)
While we belong to Clay,
Passions of Terror and Delight
Demand alternate Sway.
Behold the Man whose awful Voice
Could well proclaim the Fiery Law,
Kindle the Flames that Moses saw,
And swell the Trumpets Warlike noise.
He stands, the Herald of the Threatning Skies,
Lo, on his Reverend Brow the Frowns Divinely rise,
All Sinai's Thunder on his Tongue, and Lightning in his Eyes.
Round the high Roof the Cursès flew
Distinguishing each guilty Head,
Far from th' unequal War the Atheist fled,
His Kindled Arrows still pursue,
His Arrows strike the Atheist thro',
And fix him down to Dread.
The Marble Heart groans with an inward Wound:
Blaspheming Souls of harden'd Steel
Shriek out amaz'd at the new Pangs they feel,
And dread the Eccho's of the Sound.
The Lofty Wretch Arm'd and Array'd
In gaudy Pride sinks down his Impious Head,
Plunges in dark Despair, and mingles with the Dead.
(pp. 256-7 in 1706 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry); text from ECCO-TCP
Citation
36 entries in ESTC (1706, 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).
See Horæ Lyricæ: Poems, Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Two books. (London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence, 1706). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See also 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>
Originally found searching in The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D., 6 vols. (London: Printed by and for John Barfield, 1810).
See Horæ Lyricæ: Poems, Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Two books. (London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence, 1706). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See also 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>
Originally found searching in The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D., 6 vols. (London: Printed by and for John Barfield, 1810).
Date of Entry
06/12/2005
Date of Review
02/07/2014
