"Revenge [may be] so great a Stranger to her Breast"

— Wesley, Samuel, The Elder (bap. 1662, d. 1735)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Benj. Cowse and John Hooke [etc.]
Date
1715
Metaphor
"Revenge [may be] so great a Stranger to her Breast"
Metaphor in Context
Arose the King, with Indignation fir'd,
And his broad Nostrils thick and loud respir'd;
With hasty Strides he to the Garden goes,
When from the Banquet Haman trembling rose;
As meanly servile now as proud before,
And did at Esther's Feet for Life implore;
And had perhaps prevail'd in his Request,
Revenge so great a Stranger to her Breast;
But that self-moment Persia's Prince returns,
And fann'd with Jealousy his Anger burns:
"And dares th'Audacious, dares the Wretch, he cries,
"Insult the Queen herself before my Eyes?
The Monarch stamps, the Mutes soon fill the Place,
And at the Signal cover Haman's Face:
Swift is his Fate, he's in a moment rear'd
On a tall Tree for Mordecai prepar'd:
His Children by resembling Death's expire,
Expos'd on Crosses round their impious Sire:
The Jews commission'd all their Foes destroy,
And still in annual Feasts transmit their Nations Joy.
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "stranger" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
03/06/2006

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.