"'Twas when the night in silent sable fled, / When chearful morning sprung with rising red, / When dreams and vapours leave to crowd the brain"

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)


Date
1722, 1726
Metaphor
"'Twas when the night in silent sable fled, / When chearful morning sprung with rising red, / When dreams and vapours leave to crowd the brain"
Metaphor in Context
'Twas when the night in silent sable fled,
When chearful morning sprung with rising red,
When dreams and vapours leave to crowd the brain
,
And best the Vision draws its heav'nly scene;
'Twas then, as slumb'ring on my couch I lay,
A sudden splendor seem'd to kindle day,
A breeze came breathing in a sweet perfume,
Blown from eternal gardens, fill'd the room;
And in a void of blue, that clouds invest,
Appear'd a daughter of the realms of rest;
Her head a ring of golden glory wore,
Her honour'd hand the sacred volume bore,
Her rayment glitt'ring seem'd a silver white,
And all her sweet companions sons of light.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "brain" and "crowd" in HDIS (Poetry). Text from Parnell's Works. Earlier printing found in Google Books.
Citation
At least 32 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1722, 1729, 1734, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1758, 1760, 1767, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1778, 1779, 1786, 1790, 1795, 1796, 1797).

See Poems on Several Occasions. Written by Dr. Thomas Parnell, Late Arch-Deacon of Clogher: and published by Mr. Pope. (London: Printed for B. Lintot, at the Cross-Keys, between the Temple Gates in Fleet-Street, 1722 [1721]). <Link to ECCO>

Found in James Arbuckle. No. 62, Saturday, June 4th, 1726.Hibernicus's Letters or a Philosophical Miscellany. Second Edition. Vol. II. London and Westminster, 1734. pp. 60-63. <Google Books>

Collected Poems of Thomas Parnell (London, Toronto, and Newark: University of Delaware Press; Associated UP, 1989). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
03/09/2006
Date of Review
12/15/2008

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.