"And all the Furies wake within their Breast."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Bernard Lintott
Date
w. 1703, 1712
Metaphor
"And all the Furies wake within their Breast."
Metaphor in Context
But when the Fury took her Stand on high,
Where vast Cythaeron's Top salutes theSky,
A Hiss form all the Snaky Tire went round;
The dreadful Signal all the Rocks rebound,
And thro' th' Achaian Cities send the Sound.
Oete, with high Parnassus, heard the Voice;
Eurota's Banks remurmur'd to the Noise;
Again Leucothoë shook at these Alarms,
And press'd Palaemon closer in her Arms.
Headlong from thence the glowing Fury springs,
And o'er the Theban Palace spreads her Wings,
Once more invades the guilty Dome, and shrouds
Its bright Pavilions in a Veil of Clouds.
Strait with the Rage of all their Race possest,
Stung to the Soul, the Brothers start from Rest,
And all the Furies wake within their Breast
Their tortur'd Minds repining Envy tears,
And Hate, engender'd by suspicious Fears;
And sacred Thirst of Sway; and all the Ties
Of Nature broke; and Royal Perjuries;
And impotent Desire to Reign alone,
That scorns the dull Reversion of a Throne;
Each wou'd the sweets of Sovereign Rule devour,
While Discord waits upon divided Pow'r.
(ll. 160-80, p. 41-2)
Where vast Cythaeron's Top salutes theSky,
A Hiss form all the Snaky Tire went round;
The dreadful Signal all the Rocks rebound,
And thro' th' Achaian Cities send the Sound.
Oete, with high Parnassus, heard the Voice;
Eurota's Banks remurmur'd to the Noise;
Again Leucothoë shook at these Alarms,
And press'd Palaemon closer in her Arms.
Headlong from thence the glowing Fury springs,
And o'er the Theban Palace spreads her Wings,
Once more invades the guilty Dome, and shrouds
Its bright Pavilions in a Veil of Clouds.
Strait with the Rage of all their Race possest,
Stung to the Soul, the Brothers start from Rest,
And all the Furies wake within their Breast
Their tortur'd Minds repining Envy tears,
And Hate, engender'd by suspicious Fears;
And sacred Thirst of Sway; and all the Ties
Of Nature broke; and Royal Perjuries;
And impotent Desire to Reign alone,
That scorns the dull Reversion of a Throne;
Each wou'd the sweets of Sovereign Rule devour,
While Discord waits upon divided Pow'r.
(ll. 160-80, p. 41-2)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Pope, Alexander. The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt (New Haven: Yale UP, 1963).
See Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1712). <Link to ECCO>
See Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1712). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
12/05/2003
