"Consult your glass; then prune your wanton mind, / Nor furnish laughter for succeeding time."
— Leapor, Mary (1722-1746)
Author
Work Title
Date
1751
Metaphor
"Consult your glass; then prune your wanton mind, / Nor furnish laughter for succeeding time."
Metaphor in Context
Can roses flourish on a leafless thorn,
Or dewy woodbines grace a wintry morn?
The weeping Cupids languish in your eye;
On your brown cheek the sickly beauties dies.
Time's rugged hand has stroked your visage o'er;
The gay vermillion stains your lip no more.
None can with justice now your shape admire;
The drooping lines on your breast expire.
Then, dear Sophronia, leave thy foolish whims:
Discard your lover with your favorite sins.
Consult your glass; then prune your wanton mind,
Nor furnish laughter for succeeding time.
'Tis not your own; 'tis gold's all-conquering charms
Invite Myrtillo to your shrivelled arms:
And shall Sophronia, whose once-lovely eyes
Beheld those triumphs which her heart despised,
Who looked on merit with a haughty frown,
At five-and-fifty take a beardless clown?
(ll. 11-28, p. 207 in Lonsdale)
Or dewy woodbines grace a wintry morn?
The weeping Cupids languish in your eye;
On your brown cheek the sickly beauties dies.
Time's rugged hand has stroked your visage o'er;
The gay vermillion stains your lip no more.
None can with justice now your shape admire;
The drooping lines on your breast expire.
Then, dear Sophronia, leave thy foolish whims:
Discard your lover with your favorite sins.
Consult your glass; then prune your wanton mind,
Nor furnish laughter for succeeding time.
'Tis not your own; 'tis gold's all-conquering charms
Invite Myrtillo to your shrivelled arms:
And shall Sophronia, whose once-lovely eyes
Beheld those triumphs which her heart despised,
Who looked on merit with a haughty frown,
At five-and-fifty take a beardless clown?
(ll. 11-28, p. 207 in Lonsdale)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Reading Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
Date of Entry
09/14/2009
Date of Review
01/25/2004
