"The nymph her graces here express'd may find, / And by this picture learn to dress her mind."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Date
1717
Metaphor
"The nymph her graces here express'd may find, / And by this picture learn to dress her mind."
Metaphor in Context
The nymph her graces here express'd may find,
And by this picture learn to dress her mind;
For here no frowns make tender love afraid,
Soft looks of mercy grace the flatt'ring shade,
And, while we gaze, the gracious form appears
T'approve our passion and forbid our fears.
Narcissus here a different fate had prov'd,
Whose bright resemblance by himself was lov'd;
Had he but once this fairer shade descry'd,
Not for his own, but hers, the youth had dy'd.
(ll. 1-10, p. 4)
And by this picture learn to dress her mind;
For here no frowns make tender love afraid,
Soft looks of mercy grace the flatt'ring shade,
And, while we gaze, the gracious form appears
T'approve our passion and forbid our fears.
Narcissus here a different fate had prov'd,
Whose bright resemblance by himself was lov'd;
Had he but once this fairer shade descry'd,
Not for his own, but hers, the youth had dy'd.
(ll. 1-10, p. 4)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Pope, Alexander. The Poems of Alexander Pope. A One-Volume Edition of the Twickenham Text with Selected Annotations. Ed. John Butt. New Haven: Yale UP, 1963.
Date of Entry
12/03/2003
Date of Review
12/03/2008
