"His Fancy still awake; the roving Guest / Usurps the Throne of Reason in his Breast: / Forms great Ideas, and religious Schemes, / A busy mime, and floats in golden Dreams."
— Amhurst, Nicholas (1697-1742)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for E. Curll
Date
1720
Metaphor
"His Fancy still awake; the roving Guest / Usurps the Throne of Reason in his Breast: / Forms great Ideas, and religious Schemes, / A busy mime, and floats in golden Dreams."
Metaphor in Context
It chanc'd, when soft Favonian gusts untie
The stiff'ned Floods, and warm the frozen Sky;
When genial heats distil on every Gale,
And various Flora paints the blushing Vale:
The smiling Season call'd our Hero forth,
To view her op'ning Blooms, and lab'ring Earth:
Silent he strays along the lonely Mead,
Where Shrubs their aromatick Fragrance bleed;
His Thoughts a while unbent from doing Good,
Wrapt in the Murmurs of the Vocal flood:
When, faint with Age, or sudden Cares oppress'd,
On the green Herb he stretch'd his Limbs to rest;
Thick Shades, obsequious to the Call, arise,
And a deep Slumber seals his weary Eyes;
His Fancy still awake; the roving Guest
Usurps the Throne of Reason in his Breast:
Forms great Ideas, and religious Schemes,
A busy mime, and floats in golden Dreams.
(cf. p. 28 in 1720 edition)
The stiff'ned Floods, and warm the frozen Sky;
When genial heats distil on every Gale,
And various Flora paints the blushing Vale:
The smiling Season call'd our Hero forth,
To view her op'ning Blooms, and lab'ring Earth:
Silent he strays along the lonely Mead,
Where Shrubs their aromatick Fragrance bleed;
His Thoughts a while unbent from doing Good,
Wrapt in the Murmurs of the Vocal flood:
When, faint with Age, or sudden Cares oppress'd,
On the green Herb he stretch'd his Limbs to rest;
Thick Shades, obsequious to the Call, arise,
And a deep Slumber seals his weary Eyes;
His Fancy still awake; the roving Guest
Usurps the Throne of Reason in his Breast:
Forms great Ideas, and religious Schemes,
A busy mime, and floats in golden Dreams.
(cf. p. 28 in 1720 edition)
Provenance
Searching "throne" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry); found again "idea"; and again "fancy"; confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1720, 1723, 1724).
See Poems on Several Occasions. To Which Is Added, a Letter to Mr. Law. By a Student of Oxford. (London: Printed for E. Curll, in Fleet-Street, 1720). <Link to ESTC>
Found searching in Poems on Several Occasions. Dedicated to the Reverend Dr. Delaune, President of St. John's College in Oxford. by N. Amhurst, Sometime of the Same College. (London: Printed for R. Francklin, at the Sun Fleetstreet, 1723). Text drawn from this edition.
See Poems on Several Occasions. To Which Is Added, a Letter to Mr. Law. By a Student of Oxford. (London: Printed for E. Curll, in Fleet-Street, 1720). <Link to ESTC>
Found searching in Poems on Several Occasions. Dedicated to the Reverend Dr. Delaune, President of St. John's College in Oxford. by N. Amhurst, Sometime of the Same College. (London: Printed for R. Francklin, at the Sun Fleetstreet, 1723). Text drawn from this edition.
Date of Entry
07/19/2004
