"Restless, on paper, we our vows repeat, / And pour our souls out, on the missive sheet"
— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1726, 1753
Metaphor
"Restless, on paper, we our vows repeat, / And pour our souls out, on the missive sheet"
Metaphor in Context
Restless, on paper, we our vows repeat,
And pour our souls out, on the missive sheet:
Write; blot; restore--and, in lost pieces, rend,
The mute entreaters, yet, too faint, to send;
Unbless'd, if no admission we procure,
'Tis heav'n, at distance, to behold her door!
Or, to her window, we, by night, repair,
And let loose fancy, to be feasted, there;
Watch her lov'd shadow, as it glances by,
And, to imagin'd motions, chain our eye;
Has she some field, or grove, or garden bless'd?
Pleas'd, we re-tread the paths, her feet have press'd:
Near her, by chance, at visits, or at plays,
Our rushing spirits crowd, in speaking gaze;
Light, on her varied airs, our eye-balls ride,
Blind, as the dead, to the full world, beside.
(Cf. pp. 197-8 in 1726 miscellany)
And pour our souls out, on the missive sheet:
Write; blot; restore--and, in lost pieces, rend,
The mute entreaters, yet, too faint, to send;
Unbless'd, if no admission we procure,
'Tis heav'n, at distance, to behold her door!
Or, to her window, we, by night, repair,
And let loose fancy, to be feasted, there;
Watch her lov'd shadow, as it glances by,
And, to imagin'd motions, chain our eye;
Has she some field, or grove, or garden bless'd?
Pleas'd, we re-tread the paths, her feet have press'd:
Near her, by chance, at visits, or at plays,
Our rushing spirits crowd, in speaking gaze;
Light, on her varied airs, our eye-balls ride,
Blind, as the dead, to the full world, beside.
(Cf. pp. 197-8 in 1726 miscellany)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "sheet" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1726, 1753, 1754).
See Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands. Publish’d by Richard Savage, Son of the Late Earl Rivers. (London: Printed for Samuel Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall, 1726). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, Esq; in Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, and of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With an Essay on the Art of Acting. (London: Printed for the benefit of the family, 1753). <Link to ESTC>
See Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands. Publish’d by Richard Savage, Son of the Late Earl Rivers. (London: Printed for Samuel Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall, 1726). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, Esq; in Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, and of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With an Essay on the Art of Acting. (London: Printed for the benefit of the family, 1753). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
04/06/2005
