"But that bright Daughter of eternal Day [Reason], / Holds in our mortal Frame a dubious Sway."
— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Bernard Lintot
Date
1717
Metaphor
"But that bright Daughter of eternal Day [Reason], / Holds in our mortal Frame a dubious Sway."
Metaphor in Context
To lead us safe thro' Error's thorny Maze,
Reason exerts her pure Etherial Rays:
But that bright Daughter of eternal Day,
Holds in our mortal Frame a dubious Sway.
Tho' no Lethargic Fumes the Brain invest,
And opiate all her active Pow'rs to rest;
Tho' on that Magazine no Fevers seize,
To calcine all her beauteous Images:
Yet banish'd from the Realms by Right her own,
Passion, a blind Usurper, mounts the Throne.
Or to known Good preferring specious Ill,
Reason becomes a Cully to the Will:
Thus Man perversely fond to roam astray,
Hoodwinks the Guide assign'd to shew the way;
And in Life's Voyage like the Pilot fares,
Who breaks the Compass, and contemn's the Stars,
To steer by Meteors; which at random fly,
Preluding to a Tempest in the Sky.
Vain of his Skill, and led by various Views,
Each to his End a diff'rent Path persues;
And seldom is one Wretch so humble known,
To think his Friend's a better than his own:
The boldest they, who least partake the Light;
As Game-Cocks in the dark are train'd to fight.
Nor Shame, nor Ruin can our Pride abate,
But what became our Choice, we call our Fate.
Villain, said Zeno to his pilfering Slave,
What frugal Nature needs I freely gave;
With thee my Treasure I depos'd in Trust,
What cou'd provoke thee now to prove unjust?
Sir, blame the Stars, felonious Culprit cry'd.
We'll! by the Statute of the Stars be Try'd.
If their strong Influence all our Actions urge,
Some are foredoom'd to steal--and some to scourge:
The Beadle must obey the Fates Decree,
As pow'rful Destiny prevail'd with thee.
Reason exerts her pure Etherial Rays:
But that bright Daughter of eternal Day,
Holds in our mortal Frame a dubious Sway.
Tho' no Lethargic Fumes the Brain invest,
And opiate all her active Pow'rs to rest;
Tho' on that Magazine no Fevers seize,
To calcine all her beauteous Images:
Yet banish'd from the Realms by Right her own,
Passion, a blind Usurper, mounts the Throne.
Or to known Good preferring specious Ill,
Reason becomes a Cully to the Will:
Thus Man perversely fond to roam astray,
Hoodwinks the Guide assign'd to shew the way;
And in Life's Voyage like the Pilot fares,
Who breaks the Compass, and contemn's the Stars,
To steer by Meteors; which at random fly,
Preluding to a Tempest in the Sky.
Vain of his Skill, and led by various Views,
Each to his End a diff'rent Path persues;
And seldom is one Wretch so humble known,
To think his Friend's a better than his own:
The boldest they, who least partake the Light;
As Game-Cocks in the dark are train'd to fight.
Nor Shame, nor Ruin can our Pride abate,
But what became our Choice, we call our Fate.
Villain, said Zeno to his pilfering Slave,
What frugal Nature needs I freely gave;
With thee my Treasure I depos'd in Trust,
What cou'd provoke thee now to prove unjust?
Sir, blame the Stars, felonious Culprit cry'd.
We'll! by the Statute of the Stars be Try'd.
If their strong Influence all our Actions urge,
Some are foredoom'd to steal--and some to scourge:
The Beadle must obey the Fates Decree,
As pow'rful Destiny prevail'd with thee.
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1717, 1727, 1732, 1779).
Text from Poems on Several Occasions (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot between the Temple-Gates, 1717). <Link to ESTC>
Appears also in Miscellany Poems (1727, 1732)
Text from Poems on Several Occasions (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot between the Temple-Gates, 1717). <Link to ESTC>
Appears also in Miscellany Poems (1727, 1732)
Date of Entry
01/25/2006
