"O Sacharissa, what could steel thy Breast, / To Rob Harmonious Waller of his Rest?"
— Cobb, Samuel (bap. 1675, d. 1713)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed, and Sold by James Woodward
Date
1707, 1710
Metaphor
"O Sacharissa, what could steel thy Breast, / To Rob Harmonious Waller of his Rest?"
Metaphor in Context
Tho' She (forgive our freedom) sometimes Flows
In Lines too Rugged, and akin to Prose.
Verse with a lively smoothness should be Wrote,
When room is granted to the Speech and Thought.
Like some fair Planet, the Majestick Song
Should gently move, and sparkle as it rowls along.
Like Waller's Muse, who tho' inchain'd by Rhime,
Taught wondring Poets to keep even Chime.
His Praise inflames my breast, and should be shown
In Numbers sweet and Courtly as his Own.
Who no unmanly Turns of Thought pursues,
Rash Errours of an injudicious Muse.
Such Wit, like Lightning, for a while looks Gay,
Just gilds the Place, and vanishes away.
In one continu'd blaze He upwards sprung,
Like those Seraphick flames of which He Sung.
If, Cromwel, he laments thy Mighty Fall
Nature attending Weeps at the Great Funeral.
Or if his Muse with joyful Triumph brings
the Monarch to His Ancient Throne, or Sings
Batavians worsted on the Conquer'd Main,
Fleets flying, and advent'rous Opdam Slain,
Then Rome and Athens to his Song repair
With British Graces smiling on his Care,
Divinely charming in a Dress so Fair.
As Squadrons in well-Marshal'd order fill
The Flandrian Plains, and speak no vulgar Skill;
So Rank'd is every Line, each Sentence such,
No Word is wanting, and no Word's too much.
As Pearls in Gold with their own Lustre Shine,
The Substance precious, and the Work Divine:
So did his Words his Beauteous Thoughts in chase,
Both shone and sparkled with unborrow'd Grace,
A mighty Value in a little Space.
So the Venusian Clio sung of Old,
When lofty Acts in well-chose Phrase he told.
But Rome's aspiring Lyrick pleas'd us less,
Sung not so moving, tho' with more Success.
O Sacharissa, what could steel thy Breast,
To Rob Harmonious Waller of his Rest?
To send him Murm'ring thro' the Cypress-Grove,
In strains lamenting his neglected Love.
Th' attentive Forest did his Grief partake,
And Sympathizing Oakstheir knotted Branches shake.
Each Nymph, tho' Coy, to Pity would incline;
And every stubborn Heart was mov'd, but Thine.
Henceforth be Thou to future Ages known;
Like Niobe, a Monument of Stone.
In Lines too Rugged, and akin to Prose.
Verse with a lively smoothness should be Wrote,
When room is granted to the Speech and Thought.
Like some fair Planet, the Majestick Song
Should gently move, and sparkle as it rowls along.
Like Waller's Muse, who tho' inchain'd by Rhime,
Taught wondring Poets to keep even Chime.
His Praise inflames my breast, and should be shown
In Numbers sweet and Courtly as his Own.
Who no unmanly Turns of Thought pursues,
Rash Errours of an injudicious Muse.
Such Wit, like Lightning, for a while looks Gay,
Just gilds the Place, and vanishes away.
In one continu'd blaze He upwards sprung,
Like those Seraphick flames of which He Sung.
If, Cromwel, he laments thy Mighty Fall
Nature attending Weeps at the Great Funeral.
Or if his Muse with joyful Triumph brings
the Monarch to His Ancient Throne, or Sings
Batavians worsted on the Conquer'd Main,
Fleets flying, and advent'rous Opdam Slain,
Then Rome and Athens to his Song repair
With British Graces smiling on his Care,
Divinely charming in a Dress so Fair.
As Squadrons in well-Marshal'd order fill
The Flandrian Plains, and speak no vulgar Skill;
So Rank'd is every Line, each Sentence such,
No Word is wanting, and no Word's too much.
As Pearls in Gold with their own Lustre Shine,
The Substance precious, and the Work Divine:
So did his Words his Beauteous Thoughts in chase,
Both shone and sparkled with unborrow'd Grace,
A mighty Value in a little Space.
So the Venusian Clio sung of Old,
When lofty Acts in well-chose Phrase he told.
But Rome's aspiring Lyrick pleas'd us less,
Sung not so moving, tho' with more Success.
O Sacharissa, what could steel thy Breast,
To Rob Harmonious Waller of his Rest?
To send him Murm'ring thro' the Cypress-Grove,
In strains lamenting his neglected Love.
Th' attentive Forest did his Grief partake,
And Sympathizing Oakstheir knotted Branches shake.
Each Nymph, tho' Coy, to Pity would incline;
And every stubborn Heart was mov'd, but Thine.
Henceforth be Thou to future Ages known;
Like Niobe, a Monument of Stone.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1707, 1709, 1710).
Text from Poems on Several Occasions. With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb, 3rd ed. (London: Printed, and Sold by James Woodward, 1710).
See also Poems on Several Occasions. With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachilides, Anacreon, and Others. To Which Is Prefix'd a Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing, by Way of Letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb, M.A. (London, 1707). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems on Several Occasions. With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb, 3rd ed. (London: Printed, and Sold by James Woodward, 1710).
See also Poems on Several Occasions. With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachilides, Anacreon, and Others. To Which Is Prefix'd a Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing, by Way of Letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb, M.A. (London, 1707). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
