"Still spread a healing mist before the mind; / And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light, / Secure us kindly in our native night."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for M. Cooper
Date
1743
Metaphor
"Still spread a healing mist before the mind; / And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light, / Secure us kindly in our native night."
Metaphor in Context
Then he: Great Tamer of all human art!
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end;
E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
O thou! of Bus'ness the directing soul!
To this our head like byass to the bowl,
Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely wadling to the mark in view:
O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,
Still spread a healing mist before the mind ;
And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light,
Secure us kindly in our native night.
Or, if to Wit a coxcomb make pretence,
Guard the sure barrier between that and Sense;
Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,
And hang some curious cobweb in its stead!
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous slugs cut swiftly thro the sky;
As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,
The wheels above urg'd by the load below:
Me Emptiness, and Dulness could inspire,
And were my Elasticity, and Fire.
First in my care, and ever at my heart;
Dulness! whose good old cause I yet defend,
With whom my Muse began, with whom shall end;
E'er since Sir Fopling's Periwig was Praise,
To the last honours of the Butt and Bays:
O thou! of Bus'ness the directing soul!
To this our head like byass to the bowl,
Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true,
Obliquely wadling to the mark in view:
O! ever gracious to perplex'd mankind,
Still spread a healing mist before the mind ;
And lest we err by Wit's wild dancing light,
Secure us kindly in our native night.
Or, if to Wit a coxcomb make pretence,
Guard the sure barrier between that and Sense;
Or quite unravel all the reas'ning thread,
And hang some curious cobweb in its stead!
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous slugs cut swiftly thro the sky;
As clocks to weight their nimble motion owe,
The wheels above urg'd by the load below:
Me Emptiness, and Dulness could inspire,
And were my Elasticity, and Fire.
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 19 entries in the ESTC (1742, 1743, 1744, 1749, 1756, 1776, 1777).
The Dunciad, in Four Books. Printed According to the Complete Copy Found in the Year 1742. With the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum. to Which Are Added, Several Notes Now First Publish'd, the Hypercritics of Aristarchus, and His Dissertation on the Hero of the Poem. (London: Printed for M. Cooper at the Globe in Pater-noster-row, 1743). [2 issues in 1743] <Link to ESTC><Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Reading The Dunciad in Four Books, ed. Valerie Rumbold (New York: Pearson Longman, 2009).
The Dunciad, in Four Books. Printed According to the Complete Copy Found in the Year 1742. With the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, and Notes Variorum. to Which Are Added, Several Notes Now First Publish'd, the Hypercritics of Aristarchus, and His Dissertation on the Hero of the Poem. (London: Printed for M. Cooper at the Globe in Pater-noster-row, 1743). [2 issues in 1743] <Link to ESTC><Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Reading The Dunciad in Four Books, ed. Valerie Rumbold (New York: Pearson Longman, 2009).
Theme
Will-o'-the-Wisp (Ignis Fatuus)
Date of Entry
09/29/2003
Date of Review
10/23/2003
