"He stood; content to bow to Custom's Throne, / So Reason mote not blush his sovran Rule to own."
— West, Gilbert (1703-1756)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley and sold by M. Cooper
Date
1751
Metaphor
"He stood; content to bow to Custom's Throne, / So Reason mote not blush his sovran Rule to own."
Metaphor in Context
His baser Parts he maim'd with many a Wound;
But far above his utmost Reach were pight
The Forts of Life: ne ever to confound
With utter Ruin, and abolish quite
A Power so puissant by his single Might
Did he presume to hope: Himself alone
From lawless Force to free, in bloody Fight
He stood; content to bow to Custom's Throne,
So Reason mote not blush his sovran Rule to own.
But far above his utmost Reach were pight
The Forts of Life: ne ever to confound
With utter Ruin, and abolish quite
A Power so puissant by his single Might
Did he presume to hope: Himself alone
From lawless Force to free, in bloody Fight
He stood; content to bow to Custom's Throne,
So Reason mote not blush his sovran Rule to own.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "rule" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
See printings in ECCO and ESTC (1751, 1755, 1758, 1763, 1765, 1766, 1770, 1775, 1782, 1795). Collected in Dodsley, Bell, Works of the English Poets, Knox, and Anderson's British Poets. Reprints listed at Spenser and the Tradition.
See Education, a Poem: in Two Cantos. Written in Imitation of the Style and Manner of Spenser’s Fairy Queen. By Gilbert West, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-Noster-Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO>
Text from A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763).
See Education, a Poem: in Two Cantos. Written in Imitation of the Style and Manner of Spenser’s Fairy Queen. By Gilbert West, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-Noster-Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO>
Text from A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763).
Date of Entry
06/22/2004
Date of Review
06/09/2009
