"But now, my Muse, the arduous Task engage, / And show the Charming Figure on the Stage, / Describe her Look, her Action, Voice and Mein, / The gay Coquette, soft Maid, or haughty Queen, / So bright she [Mrs. Oldfield] shone in every different Part, / She gain'd despotick Empire o'er the Heart, / Knew how each various Motion to controul, / Sooth every Passion, and subdue the Soul."
— Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743)
Work Title
Date
1730, 1731
Metaphor
"But now, my Muse, the arduous Task engage, / And show the Charming Figure on the Stage, / Describe her Look, her Action, Voice and Mein, / The gay Coquette, soft Maid, or haughty Queen, / So bright she [Mrs. Oldfield] shone in every different Part, / She gain'd despotick Empire o'er the Heart, / Knew how each various Motion to controul, / Sooth every Passion, and subdue the Soul."
Metaphor in Context
But now, my Muse, the arduous Task engage,
And show the Charming Figure on the Stage,
Describe her Look, her Action, Voice and Mein,
The gay Coquette, soft Maid, or haughty Queen,
So bright she shone in every different Part,
She gain'd despotick Empire o'er the Heart,
Knew how each various Motion to controul,
Sooth every Passion, and subdue the Soul:
As she, or gay, or sorrowful apears,
She claims our Mirth, or triumphs in our Tears:
Whilst from her Eyes delusive Sorrows flow,
Our Breasts are touch'd with undissembled Woe;
Or if Ambition calls her forth to Arms,
The Thirst of Glory every Bosom warms;
No Souls so senseless but what felt her Flame,
Nor Breast so savage but her Art could tame.
Ev'n the Pert Templer, and the City Prig,
Who come to Plays to show their Wit--or Wig.
The snarling Critick, and the sneering Beau,
Who neither Sense of Worth, or Manners know,
Aw'd by her Looks their Brutish Din forbear,
And for a while a little Human are,
So Orpheus charm'd the Savages of old,
And all Hell's Furies with his Harp controul'd.
(pp. 5-6)
And show the Charming Figure on the Stage,
Describe her Look, her Action, Voice and Mein,
The gay Coquette, soft Maid, or haughty Queen,
So bright she shone in every different Part,
She gain'd despotick Empire o'er the Heart,
Knew how each various Motion to controul,
Sooth every Passion, and subdue the Soul:
As she, or gay, or sorrowful apears,
She claims our Mirth, or triumphs in our Tears:
Whilst from her Eyes delusive Sorrows flow,
Our Breasts are touch'd with undissembled Woe;
Or if Ambition calls her forth to Arms,
The Thirst of Glory every Bosom warms;
No Souls so senseless but what felt her Flame,
Nor Breast so savage but her Art could tame.
Ev'n the Pert Templer, and the City Prig,
Who come to Plays to show their Wit--or Wig.
The snarling Critick, and the sneering Beau,
Who neither Sense of Worth, or Manners know,
Aw'd by her Looks their Brutish Din forbear,
And for a while a little Human are,
So Orpheus charm'd the Savages of old,
And all Hell's Furies with his Harp controul'd.
(pp. 5-6)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "empire" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1730, 1731).
Found in Authentick Memoirs of the Life of That Celebrated Actress Mrs. Ann Oldfield (London: Printed and Sold by the Booksellers and Pamphlet-Sellers of London and Westminster, 1730). <Link to ECCO>
NCBEL notes "Perhaps by Savage." See New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, ed. George Watson, vol. 2, 1660-1800 (Cambridge UP, 1971), II, 566.
Text from A Poem to the Memory of Mrs. Oldfield. Inscrib'd to the Honourable Brigadier Charles Churchill (London and Dublin: Printed and...Sold by George Faulkner, 1731). <Link to ECCO>
Found in Authentick Memoirs of the Life of That Celebrated Actress Mrs. Ann Oldfield (London: Printed and Sold by the Booksellers and Pamphlet-Sellers of London and Westminster, 1730). <Link to ECCO>
NCBEL notes "Perhaps by Savage." See New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, ed. George Watson, vol. 2, 1660-1800 (Cambridge UP, 1971), II, 566.
Text from A Poem to the Memory of Mrs. Oldfield. Inscrib'd to the Honourable Brigadier Charles Churchill (London and Dublin: Printed and...Sold by George Faulkner, 1731). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
08/22/2004
Date of Review
03/28/2012
