"Heav'n sure has arm'd thee with a Heart of Steel, / A Strength proportion'd to the Woes you feel."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott
Date
1715-1720
Metaphor
"Heav'n sure has arm'd thee with a Heart of Steel, / A Strength proportion'd to the Woes you feel."
Metaphor in Context
[1]Alas! what Weight of Anguish hast thou known?
Unhappy Prince! thus guardless and alone
To pass thro' Foes, and thus undaunted face
The Man whose Fury has destroy'd thy Race?
Heav'n sure has arm'd thee with a Heart of Steel,
A Strength proportion'd to the Woes you feel.
Rise then: Let Reason mitigate our Care:
To mourn, avails not: Man is born to bear.
Such is, alas! the Gods severe Decree;
They, only they are blest, and only free.
[2]Two Urns by Jove's high Throne have ever stood,
The Source of Evil one, and one of Good;
From thence the Cup of mortal Man he fills,
Blessings to these, to those distributes Ills;
To most, he mingles both: The Wretch decreed
To taste the bad, unmix'd, is curst indeed;
Pursu'd by Wrongs, by meagre Famine driv'n,
He wanders, Outcast both of Earth and Heav'n.
The Happiest taste not Happiness sincere,
But find the cordial Draught is dash'd with Care.
Who more than Peleus shone in Wealth and Pow'r?
What Stars concurring blest his natal Hour?
A Realm, a Goddess, to his Wishes giv'n,
Grac'd by the Gods with all the Gifts of Heav'n!
One Evil yet o'ertakes his latest Day,
No Race succeeding to imperial Sway:
One only Son! and he (alas!) ordain'd
To fall untimely in a foreign Land!
See him, in Troy, the pious Care decline
Of his weak Age, to live the Curse of thine!
Thou too, Old Man, hast happier Days beheld;
In Riches once, in Children once excell'd;
[3]Extended Phrygia own'd thy ample Reign,
And all fair Lesbos' blissful Seats contain,
And all wide Hellespont's unmeasur'd Main.
But since the God his Hand has pleas'd to turn,
And fill thy Measure from his bitter Urn,
What sees the Sun, but hapless Heroes Falls?
War, and the Blood of Men, surround thy Walls!
What must be, must be. Bear thy Lot, nor shed
These unavailing Sorrows o'er the Dead;
Thou can'st not call him from the Stygian Shore,
But thou alas! may'st live, to suffer more!
Unhappy Prince! thus guardless and alone
To pass thro' Foes, and thus undaunted face
The Man whose Fury has destroy'd thy Race?
Heav'n sure has arm'd thee with a Heart of Steel,
A Strength proportion'd to the Woes you feel.
Rise then: Let Reason mitigate our Care:
To mourn, avails not: Man is born to bear.
Such is, alas! the Gods severe Decree;
They, only they are blest, and only free.
[2]Two Urns by Jove's high Throne have ever stood,
The Source of Evil one, and one of Good;
From thence the Cup of mortal Man he fills,
Blessings to these, to those distributes Ills;
To most, he mingles both: The Wretch decreed
To taste the bad, unmix'd, is curst indeed;
Pursu'd by Wrongs, by meagre Famine driv'n,
He wanders, Outcast both of Earth and Heav'n.
The Happiest taste not Happiness sincere,
But find the cordial Draught is dash'd with Care.
Who more than Peleus shone in Wealth and Pow'r?
What Stars concurring blest his natal Hour?
A Realm, a Goddess, to his Wishes giv'n,
Grac'd by the Gods with all the Gifts of Heav'n!
One Evil yet o'ertakes his latest Day,
No Race succeeding to imperial Sway:
One only Son! and he (alas!) ordain'd
To fall untimely in a foreign Land!
See him, in Troy, the pious Care decline
Of his weak Age, to live the Curse of thine!
Thou too, Old Man, hast happier Days beheld;
In Riches once, in Children once excell'd;
[3]Extended Phrygia own'd thy ample Reign,
And all fair Lesbos' blissful Seats contain,
And all wide Hellespont's unmeasur'd Main.
But since the God his Hand has pleas'd to turn,
And fill thy Measure from his bitter Urn,
What sees the Sun, but hapless Heroes Falls?
War, and the Blood of Men, surround thy Walls!
What must be, must be. Bear thy Lot, nor shed
These unavailing Sorrows o'er the Dead;
Thou can'st not call him from the Stygian Shore,
But thou alas! may'st live, to suffer more!
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
