"Thus in the Picture of our Mind / The Action may be well design'd; / Guided by Law, and bound by Duty; / Yet want this Je ne sçay quoy of Beauty."
— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Jacob Tonson
Date
1709
Metaphor
"Thus in the Picture of our Mind / The Action may be well design'd; / Guided by Law, and bound by Duty; / Yet want this Je ne sçay quoy of Beauty."
Metaphor in Context
For 'tis in Life, as 'tis in Painting:
Much may be Right, yet much be Wanting:
From Lines drawn true, our Eye may trace
A Foot, a Knee, a Hand, a Face:
May justly own the Picture wrought
Exact to Rule, exempt from Fault:
Yet if the Colouring be not there,
The Titian Stroke, the Guido Air;
To nicest Judgment show the Piece;
At best 'twill only not displease:
It would not gain on Jersey's Eye:
Bradford would frown, and set it by.
Thus in the Picture of our Mind
The Action may be well design'd;
Guided by Law, and bound by Duty;
Yet want this Je ne sçay quoy of Beauty:
And tho' it's Error may be such,
As Knags and Burgess cannot hit;
It yet may feel the nicer Touch
Of Wicherley's or Congreve's Wit.
(p. 260, ll. 55-81)
Much may be Right, yet much be Wanting:
From Lines drawn true, our Eye may trace
A Foot, a Knee, a Hand, a Face:
May justly own the Picture wrought
Exact to Rule, exempt from Fault:
Yet if the Colouring be not there,
The Titian Stroke, the Guido Air;
To nicest Judgment show the Piece;
At best 'twill only not displease:
It would not gain on Jersey's Eye:
Bradford would frown, and set it by.
Thus in the Picture of our Mind
The Action may be well design'd;
Guided by Law, and bound by Duty;
Yet want this Je ne sçay quoy of Beauty:
And tho' it's Error may be such,
As Knags and Burgess cannot hit;
It yet may feel the nicer Touch
Of Wicherley's or Congreve's Wit.
(p. 260, ll. 55-81)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior. Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).
Date of Entry
02/25/2004
