One's breast may become "a Den of salvage Passions, left / Without a Keeper, loose and unconfin'd"
— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1703, 1718
Metaphor
One's breast may become "a Den of salvage Passions, left / Without a Keeper, loose and unconfin'd"
Metaphor in Context
But when the great Apostate's Art
Seduc'd the wav'ring Creature's Heart,
Man from his happy Region fell
To the destructive Gulph of Death and Hell;
Now Guilt's infernal Gloom, and horrid Night,
O'erwhelm his Intellectual Sight,
And Clouds, with Vengeance stor'd, his trembling Soul affright.
Darkness, like that in Central Caves beneath,
Like that, which spreads the lonesome Walks of Death,
Where never Ray one Inroad made,
The Rebels Mind did swift invade.
The Light, which he enjoy'd, abus'd withdrew,
And back to Heav'n, its Parent, flew.
His Breast of this Celestial Guest bereft,
Became a Den of salvage Passions, left
Without a Keeper, loose and unconfin'd,
Which now no Guide directs, nor Precepts bind.
Seduc'd the wav'ring Creature's Heart,
Man from his happy Region fell
To the destructive Gulph of Death and Hell;
Now Guilt's infernal Gloom, and horrid Night,
O'erwhelm his Intellectual Sight,
And Clouds, with Vengeance stor'd, his trembling Soul affright.
Darkness, like that in Central Caves beneath,
Like that, which spreads the lonesome Walks of Death,
Where never Ray one Inroad made,
The Rebels Mind did swift invade.
The Light, which he enjoy'd, abus'd withdrew,
And back to Heav'n, its Parent, flew.
His Breast of this Celestial Guest bereft,
Became a Den of salvage Passions, left
Without a Keeper, loose and unconfin'd,
Which now no Guide directs, nor Precepts bind.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1703, 1718).
See A Hymn to the Light of the World. With a Short Description of the Cartons of Raphael Urbin, in the Gallery at Hampton-Court. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1703). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Richard Blackmore, A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects. By Sir Richard Blackmore. (Printed by W. Wilkins for Jonas Browne and J. Walthoe, 1718). <Link to ECCO>
See A Hymn to the Light of the World. With a Short Description of the Cartons of Raphael Urbin, in the Gallery at Hampton-Court. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1703). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Richard Blackmore, A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects. By Sir Richard Blackmore. (Printed by W. Wilkins for Jonas Browne and J. Walthoe, 1718). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
05/04/2005
