"So perfect Gold no more excells the Brass, / Than Love of Soul doth Love of Body pass."
— Mitchell, Joseph (c. 1684-1738)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for for T. Cox
Date
1719
Metaphor
"So perfect Gold no more excells the Brass, / Than Love of Soul doth Love of Body pass."
Metaphor in Context
But as the Soul inspires our earthly Frame,
And by an Union manages the same:
So perfect Gold no more excells the Brass,
Than Love of Soul doth Love of Body pass.
Nat'ral Affection has a pow'rful Sway;
But that is mortal and will soon decay.
The Fire of Love to Womankind with Pain
May fill the Soul, and soon be quench'd again.
But Friendship binds with strongest Cords the Heart,
And causes greatest Trouble when we part.
Ne'er was a dying Martyr more belov'd
By Heav'n, than I by him whom Death remov'd:
Nor does my Body to my Soul adhere
With truer Love, than he to me was dear.
Unfeign'd and pure was our exalted Tye,
And lasting as the Chain of pow'rful Destiny.
And by an Union manages the same:
So perfect Gold no more excells the Brass,
Than Love of Soul doth Love of Body pass.
Nat'ral Affection has a pow'rful Sway;
But that is mortal and will soon decay.
The Fire of Love to Womankind with Pain
May fill the Soul, and soon be quench'd again.
But Friendship binds with strongest Cords the Heart,
And causes greatest Trouble when we part.
Ne'er was a dying Martyr more belov'd
By Heav'n, than I by him whom Death remov'd:
Nor does my Body to my Soul adhere
With truer Love, than he to me was dear.
Unfeign'd and pure was our exalted Tye,
And lasting as the Chain of pow'rful Destiny.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "gold" HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Joseph Mitchell, Lugubres Cantus. Poems on Several Grave and Important Subjects, Chiefly Occasion'd by the Death of the Late Ingenious Youth John Mitchell. In Two Parts. With a General Preface by Appointment of an Athenian Societty in Edinburgh. (London: printed for T. Cox, 1719). <Link to ECCO>
Theme
Dualism
Date of Entry
05/31/2005
