"A Scene, all human Nature must detest! / Yet cou'd the feeling Mother steel her Breast"
— Ogle, George (1704-1746)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. and R. Tonson
Date
1739, 1741
Metaphor
"A Scene, all human Nature must detest! / Yet cou'd the feeling Mother steel her Breast"
Metaphor in Context
And strait, the Ill-presaging Russian came,
The same in Gesture, and in Face the same.
Rude, as He seiz'd the Sister where She lay,
He seiz'd the Brother; or in ruder Way.
Worse than before, if worse He cou'd devise,
More insolent his Steps, more stern his Eyes.
A Scene, all human Nature must detest!
Yet cou'd the feeling Mother steel her Breast.
She clasp'd the Boy, then, (wonderful to tell!)
She gently kiss'd, and mildly bade farewell.
And thus address'd the Minister of Death:
"This let me crave, when He resigns his Breath,
"This (if your Lord object not) let me crave!
"Provide my little Son a decent Grave!
"His tender Limbs, full delicate to Sight,
"Protect from Birds by Day, and Beasts by Night!
She, humbly ask'd; He no Return affords:
Unless in Looks, more horrible than Words.
The same in Gesture, and in Face the same.
Rude, as He seiz'd the Sister where She lay,
He seiz'd the Brother; or in ruder Way.
Worse than before, if worse He cou'd devise,
More insolent his Steps, more stern his Eyes.
A Scene, all human Nature must detest!
Yet cou'd the feeling Mother steel her Breast.
She clasp'd the Boy, then, (wonderful to tell!)
She gently kiss'd, and mildly bade farewell.
And thus address'd the Minister of Death:
"This let me crave, when He resigns his Breath,
"This (if your Lord object not) let me crave!
"Provide my little Son a decent Grave!
"His tender Limbs, full delicate to Sight,
"Protect from Birds by Day, and Beasts by Night!
She, humbly ask'd; He no Return affords:
Unless in Looks, more horrible than Words.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1739, 1741, 1742, 1795).
See Gualtherus and Griselda: or, the Clerk of Oxford’s Tale. From Boccace, Petrarch, and Chaucer. ... By George Ogle, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
See also Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Modernis'd by Several Hands. Publish'd by Mr. Ogle, 3 vols. (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See Gualtherus and Griselda: or, the Clerk of Oxford’s Tale. From Boccace, Petrarch, and Chaucer. ... By George Ogle, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
See also Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Modernis'd by Several Hands. Publish'd by Mr. Ogle, 3 vols. (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
