"When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load, / It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode; / My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles, / My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else; / My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate; / My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate."
— Arwaker, Edmund (c.1655-1730)
Work Title
Date
1686, 1712
Metaphor
"When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load, / It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode; / My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles, / My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else; / My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate; / My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate."
Metaphor in Context
I who did once thro' Heav'ns wide Regions rove,
Free Denizen of those vast Realms above;
Now to a narrow Dungeon am confin'd,
A Cave that darkens and restrains my Mind.
When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load,
It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode;
My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles,
My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else;
My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate;
My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate.
Free Denizen of those vast Realms above;
Now to a narrow Dungeon am confin'd,
A Cave that darkens and restrains my Mind.
When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load,
It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode;
My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles,
My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else;
My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate;
My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Edmund Arwaker's translation of Herman Hugo's Pia desideria emblematis (Antwerp, 1624). 42 Latin editions between 1624 and 1757. Arwaker worked from the 1636 edition of Hugo; first published in England in 1686. At least 4 entries in ESTC (1686, 1690, 1702, 1712).
Text from Pia Desideria: or, Divine Addresses, In Three Books. 4th ed., corr. (London: printed for R. and J. Bonwicke, 1712) <Link to UVa E-Text Center><Link to 1702 3rd edition in Google Books>
See also Pia Desideria: or, Divine Addresses, in Three Books. Illustrated with XLVII. Copper-Plates. Written in Latine by Herm. Hugo. Englished by Edm. Arwaker, M.A. (London: Printed for Henry Bonwicke, at the Red-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1686). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Pia Desideria: or, Divine Addresses, In Three Books. 4th ed., corr. (London: printed for R. and J. Bonwicke, 1712) <Link to UVa E-Text Center><Link to 1702 3rd edition in Google Books>
See also Pia Desideria: or, Divine Addresses, in Three Books. Illustrated with XLVII. Copper-Plates. Written in Latine by Herm. Hugo. Englished by Edm. Arwaker, M.A. (London: Printed for Henry Bonwicke, at the Red-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1686). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
01/17/2006
Date of Review
05/25/2011
