"And oh my Queen! he cries; what pow'r above / Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love!"
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.
Place of Publication
London
Date
1725-6
Metaphor
"And oh my Queen! he cries; what pow'r above / Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love!"
Metaphor in Context
Mean-while the weary'd King the bath ascends;
With faithful cares Eurynomè attends,
O'er ev'ry limb a show'r of fragrance sheds:
Then drest in pomp, magnificent he treads.
The Warrior-Goddess gives his frame to shine
With majesty enlarg'd, and grace divine.
Back from his brows in wavy ringlets fly
His thick large locks, of Hyacinthine dye.
As by some artist to whom Vulcan gives
His heav'nly skill, a breathing image lives;
By Pallas taught, he frames the wond'rous mold,
And the pale silver glows with fusile gold:
So Pallas his heroic form improves
With bloom divine, and like a God he moves;
More high he treads, and issuing forth in state,
Radiant before his gazing Consort sate.
And oh my Queen! he cries; what pow'r above
Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love!
Canst thou, Penelope, when heav'n restores
Thy lost Ulysses to his native shores,
Canst thou, oh cruel! unconcern'd survey
Thy lost Ulysses, on this signal day?
Haste, Euryclea, and dispatchful spread[1]
For me, and me alone, th' imperial bed:
My weary nature craves the balm of rest:
But heav'n with Adamant has arm'd her breast.
With faithful cares Eurynomè attends,
O'er ev'ry limb a show'r of fragrance sheds:
Then drest in pomp, magnificent he treads.
The Warrior-Goddess gives his frame to shine
With majesty enlarg'd, and grace divine.
Back from his brows in wavy ringlets fly
His thick large locks, of Hyacinthine dye.
As by some artist to whom Vulcan gives
His heav'nly skill, a breathing image lives;
By Pallas taught, he frames the wond'rous mold,
And the pale silver glows with fusile gold:
So Pallas his heroic form improves
With bloom divine, and like a God he moves;
More high he treads, and issuing forth in state,
Radiant before his gazing Consort sate.
And oh my Queen! he cries; what pow'r above
Has steel'd that heart, averse to spousal love!
Canst thou, Penelope, when heav'n restores
Thy lost Ulysses to his native shores,
Canst thou, oh cruel! unconcern'd survey
Thy lost Ulysses, on this signal day?
Haste, Euryclea, and dispatchful spread[1]
For me, and me alone, th' imperial bed:
My weary nature craves the balm of rest:
But heav'n with Adamant has arm'd her breast.
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
