Thus o'er the dying Lamp th'unsteady Flame / Hang's quiv'ring on a Point, leap's off by Fits, / And fall's again, as loath to quit its Hold / --Thou must not go, my Soul still hover's o'er thee / And can't get loose."
— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1713
Metaphor
Thus o'er the dying Lamp th'unsteady Flame / Hang's quiv'ring on a Point, leap's off by Fits, / And fall's again, as loath to quit its Hold / --Thou must not go, my Soul still hover's o'er thee /
And can't get loose."
Metaphor in Context
LUCIA.
Have I not sworn? If, Portius, thy Success
Must throw thy Brother on his Fate, Farewell,
Oh, how shall I repeat the Word! For-ever!
PORTIUS.
Thus o'er the dying Lamp th'unsteady Flame
Hang's quiv'ring on a Point, leap's off by Fits,
And fall's again, as loath to quit its Hold
--Thou must not go, my Soul still hover's o'er thee
And can't get loose.
LUCIA.
If the firm Portius shake
To hear of Parting, think what Lucia suffer's!
(III.i, p. 38)
Have I not sworn? If, Portius, thy Success
Must throw thy Brother on his Fate, Farewell,
Oh, how shall I repeat the Word! For-ever!
PORTIUS.
Thus o'er the dying Lamp th'unsteady Flame
Hang's quiv'ring on a Point, leap's off by Fits,
And fall's again, as loath to quit its Hold
--Thou must not go, my Soul still hover's o'er thee
And can't get loose.
LUCIA.
If the firm Portius shake
To hear of Parting, think what Lucia suffer's!
(III.i, p. 38)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Hugh Blair's Lectures; found again searching C-H Lion
Citation
First performed April, 1713; 8 editions that year. Over one 120 entries in the ESTC (1713, 1716, 1718, 1721, 1722, 1725, 1726, 1728, 1730, 1732, 1733, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737, 1739, 1744, 1745, 1746, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1761, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1793, 1795, 1799, 1800).
See Cato. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Addison. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1713). <Link to ECCO-TCP> <Link to Google Books>
Reading also Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
See Cato. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Addison. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1713). <Link to ECCO-TCP> <Link to Google Books>
Reading also Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
Date of Entry
01/26/2004
