"Was there one joy, whose image does not last? / But that One; most extatic, most refin'd, / Reigns fresh, and will for ever in my mind, / With such a power of charms it storm'd my soul, / That nothing ever can it's strength controul."
— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Author
Work Title
Date
1739, 1740
Metaphor
"Was there one joy, whose image does not last? / But that One; most extatic, most refin'd, / Reigns fresh, and will for ever in my mind, / With such a power of charms it storm'd my soul, / That nothing ever can it's strength controul."
Metaphor in Context
What need you bid me think of pleasures past?
Was there one joy, whose image does not last?
But that One; most extatic, most refin'd,
Reigns fresh, and will for ever in my mind,
With such a power of charms it storm'd my soul,
That nothing ever can it's strength controul.
Not sleep, not age, not absence can avail,
Reflection, ever young, must still prevail.
What influence-divine did guide that hour,
Which gave to minutes the Almighty Power,
To fix (whilst other joys are not a span)
A pleasure lasting as the life of man.
(ll. 7-18, p. 695)
Was there one joy, whose image does not last?
But that One; most extatic, most refin'd,
Reigns fresh, and will for ever in my mind,
With such a power of charms it storm'd my soul,
That nothing ever can it's strength controul.
Not sleep, not age, not absence can avail,
Reflection, ever young, must still prevail.
What influence-divine did guide that hour,
Which gave to minutes the Almighty Power,
To fix (whilst other joys are not a span)
A pleasure lasting as the life of man.
(ll. 7-18, p. 695)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1739, 1740).
See Miscellaneous Works of His Late Exellency Matthew Prior, Esq; Consisting of Poems on Several Occasions, Viz. Epistles, Tales, Satires, Epigrams, &C. With Some Select Latin Performances. Now First Published from His Original Manuscripts. Revised by Himself, and Copied Fair for the Press, by Mr. Adrian Drift, His Executor. (Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Risk at the Shakespear's-Head, G. Ewing at the Angel and Bible, W. Smith, at the Hercules, Booksellers in Dame-Street, and G. Faulkner, in Essex-Street, 1739). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Dialogues of the Dead and Other Works in Prose and Verse, ed. A. R. Waller (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907).
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior. Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).
See Miscellaneous Works of His Late Exellency Matthew Prior, Esq; Consisting of Poems on Several Occasions, Viz. Epistles, Tales, Satires, Epigrams, &C. With Some Select Latin Performances. Now First Published from His Original Manuscripts. Revised by Himself, and Copied Fair for the Press, by Mr. Adrian Drift, His Executor. (Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Risk at the Shakespear's-Head, G. Ewing at the Angel and Bible, W. Smith, at the Hercules, Booksellers in Dame-Street, and G. Faulkner, in Essex-Street, 1739). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Dialogues of the Dead and Other Works in Prose and Verse, ed. A. R. Waller (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1907).
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior. Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).
Date of Entry
01/05/2004
