"Singly to pass thro' Hosts of Foes! to face / (Oh Heart of Steel!) the Murd'rer of thy Race!"
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott
Date
1715-1720
Metaphor
"Singly to pass thro' Hosts of Foes! to face / (Oh Heart of Steel!) the Murd'rer of thy Race!"
Metaphor in Context
The hoary Monarch thus. Her piercing Cries
Sad Hecuba renews, and then replies.
Ah! whither wanders thy distemper'd Mind,
And where the Prudence now that aw'd Mankind,
Thro' Phrygia once, and foreign Regions known,
Now all confus'd, distracted, overthrown!
Singly to pass thro' Hosts of Foes! to face
(Oh Heart of Steel!) the Murd'rer of thy Race!
To view that deathful Eye, and wander o'er
Those Hands, yet red with Hector's noble Gore!
Alas! my Lord! he knows not how to spare,
And what his Mercy, thy slain Sons declare;
So brave! so many fall'n! To calm his Rage
Vain were thy Dignity, and vain thy Age.
No--pent in this sad Palace let us give
To Grief the wretched Days we have to live.
Still, still for Hector let our Sorrows flow,
Born to his own, and to his Parents Woe!
Doom'd from the Hour his luckless Life begun,
To Dogs, to Vultures, and to Peleus' Son!
Oh! in his dearest Blood might I allay
My Rage, and these Barbarities repay!
For ah! could Hector merit thus? whose Breath
Expir'd not meanly, in unactive Death:
[1]He pour'd his latest Blood in manly Fight,
And fell a Hero in his Country's Right
Sad Hecuba renews, and then replies.
Ah! whither wanders thy distemper'd Mind,
And where the Prudence now that aw'd Mankind,
Thro' Phrygia once, and foreign Regions known,
Now all confus'd, distracted, overthrown!
Singly to pass thro' Hosts of Foes! to face
(Oh Heart of Steel!) the Murd'rer of thy Race!
To view that deathful Eye, and wander o'er
Those Hands, yet red with Hector's noble Gore!
Alas! my Lord! he knows not how to spare,
And what his Mercy, thy slain Sons declare;
So brave! so many fall'n! To calm his Rage
Vain were thy Dignity, and vain thy Age.
No--pent in this sad Palace let us give
To Grief the wretched Days we have to live.
Still, still for Hector let our Sorrows flow,
Born to his own, and to his Parents Woe!
Doom'd from the Hour his luckless Life begun,
To Dogs, to Vultures, and to Peleus' Son!
Oh! in his dearest Blood might I allay
My Rage, and these Barbarities repay!
For ah! could Hector merit thus? whose Breath
Expir'd not meanly, in unactive Death:
[1]He pour'd his latest Blood in manly Fight,
And fell a Hero in his Country's Right
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
17 entries in ESTC (1715, 1718, 1720, 1721, 1729, 1732, 1736, 1738, 1754, 1767, 1770, 1790, 1791, 1796). Vol. 2 is dated 1716; vol. 3, 1717; vol. 4, 1718; vols. 5 and 6, 1720.
See The Iliad of Homer, Translated by Mr. Pope, 6 vols. (London: Printed by W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott, 1715-1720). <Link to ESTC><Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III><Vol. IV><Vol. V><Vol. VI>
See The Iliad of Homer, Translated by Mr. Pope, 6 vols. (London: Printed by W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott, 1715-1720). <Link to ESTC><Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III><Vol. IV><Vol. V><Vol. VI>
Date of Entry
06/10/2005
