"What steely Heart can bear, what Tongue recite / The mortal Terrors of that dreadful Night?"
— Wesley, Samuel, The Elder (bap. 1662, d. 1735)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Benj. Cowse and John Hooke [etc.]
Date
1715
Metaphor
"What steely Heart can bear, what Tongue recite / The mortal Terrors of that dreadful Night?"
Metaphor in Context
'Tis pass'd--th'Almighty Word from Heav'n leap'd down,
And on his radiant Face he wore a Frown
To Angels terrible; his Sword unsheaths,
Walks thro' the Land, and deals Ten Thousand Deaths;
But stops at each protected Hebrews Door,
And drops the Point, or waves it gently o'r:
Then, as the Nile, where Hills or Damms oppose,
When these surpass'd, with greater Fury flows,
He shoots away and draws a purple Flood,
Agen the Land is drunk with Seas of Blood.
What steely Heart can bear, what Tongue recite
The mortal Terrors of that dreadful Night?
Expiring Groans the gentlest Sounds they hear,
And something worse than Death the Living fear:
An Universal Shriek invades the Skies;
As when th'Unjust compell'd to Judgement rise:
And on his radiant Face he wore a Frown
To Angels terrible; his Sword unsheaths,
Walks thro' the Land, and deals Ten Thousand Deaths;
But stops at each protected Hebrews Door,
And drops the Point, or waves it gently o'r:
Then, as the Nile, where Hills or Damms oppose,
When these surpass'd, with greater Fury flows,
He shoots away and draws a purple Flood,
Agen the Land is drunk with Seas of Blood.
What steely Heart can bear, what Tongue recite
The mortal Terrors of that dreadful Night?
Expiring Groans the gentlest Sounds they hear,
And something worse than Death the Living fear:
An Universal Shriek invades the Skies;
As when th'Unjust compell'd to Judgement rise:
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
06/09/2005
