"Heav'n has not curst me with a heart of steel, / But giv'n the sense, to pity, and to feel."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.
Place of Publication
London
Date
1725-6
Metaphor
"Heav'n has not curst me with a heart of steel, / But giv'n the sense, to pity, and to feel."
Metaphor in Context
Him, while he spoke, with smiles Calypso ey'd,
And gently grasp'd his hand, and thus reply'd.
This shews thee, friend, by old experience taught,
And learn'd in all the wiles of human thought.
How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise?
But hear, oh earth, and hear, ye sacred skies![1]
And thou, oh Styx! whose formidable floods
Glide thro' the shades, and bind th'attesting Gods!
No form'd design, no meditated end
Lurks in the counsel of thy faithful friend;
Kind the persuasion, and sincere my aim;
The same my practice, were my fate the same.
Heav'n has not curst me with a heart of steel,
But giv'n the sense, to pity, and to feel.
And gently grasp'd his hand, and thus reply'd.
This shews thee, friend, by old experience taught,
And learn'd in all the wiles of human thought.
How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise?
But hear, oh earth, and hear, ye sacred skies![1]
And thou, oh Styx! whose formidable floods
Glide thro' the shades, and bind th'attesting Gods!
No form'd design, no meditated end
Lurks in the counsel of thy faithful friend;
Kind the persuasion, and sincere my aim;
The same my practice, were my fate the same.
Heav'n has not curst me with a heart of steel,
But giv'n the sense, to pity, and to feel.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Over 30 entries in ESTC (1725, 1726, 1745, 1752, 1753, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1763, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1778, 1790, 1792, 1795, 1796).
The Odyssey of Homer. Translated from the Greek, 5 vols. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, 1725-26).
The Odyssey of Homer. Translated from the Greek, 5 vols. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, 1725-26).
Date of Entry
06/10/2005
