"As for the poor Girl herself, she was ever before my Eyes; I saw her by-Night, and by-Day; she haunted my Imagination, if she did not haunt the House; my Fancy show'd her me in a hundred Shapes and Postures; sleeping or waking, she was with me."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Warner
Date
1724
Metaphor
"As for the poor Girl herself, she was ever before my Eyes; I saw her by-Night, and by-Day; she haunted my Imagination, if she did not haunt the House; my Fancy show'd her me in a hundred Shapes and Postures; sleeping or waking, she was with me."
Metaphor in Context
As for the poor Girl herself, she was ever before my Eyes; I saw her by-Night, and by-Day; she haunted my Imagination, if she did not haunt the House; my Fancy show'd her me in a hundred Shapes and Postures; sleeping or waking, she was with me: Sometimes I thought I saw her with her Throat cut; sometimes with her Head cut, and her Brains knock'd-out; other-times hang'd up upon a Beam; another time drown'd in the Great Pond at Camberwell: And all these Appearances were terrifying to the last Degree; and that which was still worse, I cou'd really hear nothing of her: I sent to the Captain's Wife in Redriff, and she answer'd me, She was gone to her Relations in Spittle-Fields; I sent thither, and they said, she was there about three Weeks ago; but that she went out in a Coach with the Gentlewoman that us'd to be so kind to her, but whither she was gone, they knew not; for she had not been there since I sent back the Messenger for a Description of the Woman she went out with; and they describ'd her so perfectly, that I knew it to be Amy, and none but Amy.
(pp. 401-2, p. 374 in Penguin)
(pp. 401-2, p. 374 in Penguin)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "haunt" and "imagination" in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
At least 15 entries in the ESTC (1724, 1740, 1741, 1742, 1745, 1749, 1750, 1755, 1765, 1774, 1775, ).
See The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II (London: Printed for T. Warner, 1724). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Reading Daniel Defoe, Roxana, ed. David Blewett (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
See The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II (London: Printed for T. Warner, 1724). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Reading Daniel Defoe, Roxana, ed. David Blewett (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
Date of Entry
04/27/2004
Date of Review
06/07/2011
