"Whence either pulmonary lobe expires, / And all the interior subtile breath retires; / Subsiding lungs[6] their labouring vessels press, / Affected mutual with severe distress, / While towards the left their confluent torrents gush, / And on the heart's sinister cavern rush;"
— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Dublin
Date
1735, 1792
Metaphor
"Whence either pulmonary lobe expires, / And all the interior subtile breath retires; / Subsiding lungs[6] their labouring vessels press, / Affected mutual with severe distress, / While towards the left their confluent torrents gush, / And on the heart's sinister cavern rush;"
Metaphor in Context
Come then, O Gratitude, endearing guest,
In all thy feeling soft suggestions drest,
And heave the swell of each exulting breast!
Thou Sentiment of friendship's cordial tye!
Thou Thanks expressive from the moistening eye!
Thou pledge assured of firm Dependence dear,
Reposed on Omnipresence, ever near--
Thro' all that breathe, waft, waft thy hallow'd gale,
And let the universal wish exhale;
In symphony of vocal transport raise,
And mount to Heaven the tributary praise!
Whence, happy creatures! all your blessings flow,
Your voice to praise Him, and your skill to know;
Whence, as the drops that deck the morning's robe,
And gem the bosom of the twinkling globe,
Profusive gifts the Smiling Goodness sheds,
And boon around His boundless plenty spreads;
Nought, nought exempt; the myriad minim race
Inscrutable amid[1] the etherial space,
That mock unseen, while human optic pries
Or aids the search with microscopic eyes,
The sweets of Deified Complacence claim;
To Him display the wonders of their frame,
His own contexture, where Eternal Art,
Emotive, pants[2] within the alternate heart:
Here from the lungs the purple currents glide,
And hence impulsive bounds the sanguine tide,
With blithe pulsation beats the arterial maze,
And thro' the branching complication plays;
Its wanton floods the tubal system lave,
And to the veins resign their vital wave;
Thro' glands refining[3], shed specific juice,
Secreted nice to each appropriate use;
Or here expansile[4], in meanders bend,
While thro' the pores nutritive portions tend,
Their equal aliment dividual share,
And similar to kindred parts adhere.
From thousand rills the flux continuous drains,
Now swells the porta, now the cava veins;
Here rallies last the recollected blood,
And on the right pours in the cordial flood:
While gales ingredient[5] to the thorax pass,
And breathing lungs imbibe the etherial mass;
Whence, their licentious ducts dilation claim,
And open obvious to the welcome stream,
Which salient, thro' the heart's contractile force,
Expulsive springs its recontinual course.
The captive air impatient of retreat,
Refines expansive with internal heat,
Its levity too rare to poise the exterior weight;
Compressive round the incumbent æther lies,
And strict its elemental fold applies,
Whence either pulmonary lobe expires,
And all the interior subtile breath retires;
Subsiding lungs[6] their labouring vessels press,
Affected mutual with severe distress,
While towards the left their confluent torrents gush,
And on the heart's sinister cavern rush;
Collected there complete their circling rout,
And vigorous from their venal engine shoot.
Again the heart's constrictive powers revive,
And the fresh fountain thro' the Aorta drive;
Arterial valves oppose the refluent blood,
And swift injections push the lingering flood;
Sped by the last, the foremost currents bound,
And thus perennial run the purpling round.
In all thy feeling soft suggestions drest,
And heave the swell of each exulting breast!
Thou Sentiment of friendship's cordial tye!
Thou Thanks expressive from the moistening eye!
Thou pledge assured of firm Dependence dear,
Reposed on Omnipresence, ever near--
Thro' all that breathe, waft, waft thy hallow'd gale,
And let the universal wish exhale;
In symphony of vocal transport raise,
And mount to Heaven the tributary praise!
Whence, happy creatures! all your blessings flow,
Your voice to praise Him, and your skill to know;
Whence, as the drops that deck the morning's robe,
And gem the bosom of the twinkling globe,
Profusive gifts the Smiling Goodness sheds,
And boon around His boundless plenty spreads;
Nought, nought exempt; the myriad minim race
Inscrutable amid[1] the etherial space,
That mock unseen, while human optic pries
Or aids the search with microscopic eyes,
The sweets of Deified Complacence claim;
To Him display the wonders of their frame,
His own contexture, where Eternal Art,
Emotive, pants[2] within the alternate heart:
Here from the lungs the purple currents glide,
And hence impulsive bounds the sanguine tide,
With blithe pulsation beats the arterial maze,
And thro' the branching complication plays;
Its wanton floods the tubal system lave,
And to the veins resign their vital wave;
Thro' glands refining[3], shed specific juice,
Secreted nice to each appropriate use;
Or here expansile[4], in meanders bend,
While thro' the pores nutritive portions tend,
Their equal aliment dividual share,
And similar to kindred parts adhere.
From thousand rills the flux continuous drains,
Now swells the porta, now the cava veins;
Here rallies last the recollected blood,
And on the right pours in the cordial flood:
While gales ingredient[5] to the thorax pass,
And breathing lungs imbibe the etherial mass;
Whence, their licentious ducts dilation claim,
And open obvious to the welcome stream,
Which salient, thro' the heart's contractile force,
Expulsive springs its recontinual course.
The captive air impatient of retreat,
Refines expansive with internal heat,
Its levity too rare to poise the exterior weight;
Compressive round the incumbent æther lies,
And strict its elemental fold applies,
Whence either pulmonary lobe expires,
And all the interior subtile breath retires;
Subsiding lungs[6] their labouring vessels press,
Affected mutual with severe distress,
While towards the left their confluent torrents gush,
And on the heart's sinister cavern rush;
Collected there complete their circling rout,
And vigorous from their venal engine shoot.
Again the heart's constrictive powers revive,
And the fresh fountain thro' the Aorta drive;
Arterial valves oppose the refluent blood,
And swift injections push the lingering flood;
Sped by the last, the foremost currents bound,
And thus perennial run the purpling round.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "cave" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Originally published in parts (1735). At least 9 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1735, 1736, 1789, 1792).
See Part I <Link to ESTC>, Part II <Link to ESTC>, Part III <Link to ESTC>, Part IV <Link to ESTC>, Part V <Link to ESTC>, Part VI <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Henry Brooke ... In Four Volumes Octavo. Revised and corrected by the Original Manuscript With a Portrait of the Author, and His Life By Miss Brooke. 3rd ed. (Dublin: Printed for the Editor, 1792). [Titled "Universal Beauty: A Philosophical Poem, In Six Books."] <Link to LION>
See Part I <Link to ESTC>, Part II <Link to ESTC>, Part III <Link to ESTC>, Part IV <Link to ESTC>, Part V <Link to ESTC>, Part VI <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Henry Brooke ... In Four Volumes Octavo. Revised and corrected by the Original Manuscript With a Portrait of the Author, and His Life By Miss Brooke. 3rd ed. (Dublin: Printed for the Editor, 1792). [Titled "Universal Beauty: A Philosophical Poem, In Six Books."] <Link to LION>
Date of Entry
01/18/2006
