"Should man through Nature solitary roam, / His will his sovereign, every where his home, / What force would guard him from the lion's jaw?"
— Grainger, James (1721-1766)
Author
Work Title
Date
1755, 1836
Metaphor
"Should man through Nature solitary roam, / His will his sovereign, every where his home, / What force would guard him from the lion's jaw?"
Metaphor in Context
Youth, you're mistaken, if you think to find
In shades a med'cine for a troubled mind:
Wan Grief will haunt you wheresoe'er you go,
Sigh in the breeze, and in the streamlet flow;
There pale Inaction pines his life away,
And, satiate, curses the return of day:
There naked Frenzy, laughing wild with pain,
Or bares the blade, or plunges in the main:
There Superstition broods o'er all her fears,
And yells of demons in the zephyr hears.
But if a hermit you're resolv'd to dwell,
And bid to social life a last farewell;
'Tis impious.--
God never made an independent man,
'Twould jar the concord of his general plan:
See every part of that stupendous whole,
"Whose body nature is, and God the soul;"
To one great end, the general good conspire,
From matter, brute, to man, to seraph, fire.
Should man through Nature solitary roam,
His will his sovereign, every where his home,
What force would guard him from the lion's jaw?
What swiftness wing him from the panther's paw?
Or should Fate lead him to some safer shore,
Where panthers never prowl, nor lions roar;
Where liberal Nature all her charms bestows,
Suns shine, birds sing, flowers bloom, and water flows,
Fool! dost thou think he'd revel on the store,
Absolve the care of Heaven, nor ask for more?
Though waters flow'd, flow'rs bloom'd and Phoebus shone,
He'd sigh, he'd murmur that he was alone.
For know, the Maker on the human breast,
A sense of kindred, country, man, impress'd;
And social life to better, aid, adorn,
With proper faculties each mortal's born.
In shades a med'cine for a troubled mind:
Wan Grief will haunt you wheresoe'er you go,
Sigh in the breeze, and in the streamlet flow;
There pale Inaction pines his life away,
And, satiate, curses the return of day:
There naked Frenzy, laughing wild with pain,
Or bares the blade, or plunges in the main:
There Superstition broods o'er all her fears,
And yells of demons in the zephyr hears.
But if a hermit you're resolv'd to dwell,
And bid to social life a last farewell;
'Tis impious.--
God never made an independent man,
'Twould jar the concord of his general plan:
See every part of that stupendous whole,
"Whose body nature is, and God the soul;"
To one great end, the general good conspire,
From matter, brute, to man, to seraph, fire.
Should man through Nature solitary roam,
His will his sovereign, every where his home,
What force would guard him from the lion's jaw?
What swiftness wing him from the panther's paw?
Or should Fate lead him to some safer shore,
Where panthers never prowl, nor lions roar;
Where liberal Nature all her charms bestows,
Suns shine, birds sing, flowers bloom, and water flows,
Fool! dost thou think he'd revel on the store,
Absolve the care of Heaven, nor ask for more?
Though waters flow'd, flow'rs bloom'd and Phoebus shone,
He'd sigh, he'd murmur that he was alone.
For know, the Maker on the human breast,
A sense of kindred, country, man, impress'd;
And social life to better, aid, adorn,
With proper faculties each mortal's born.
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 10 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1755, 1765, 1775, 1776, 1782, 1783, 1791, 1796, 1799, 1800). [Variously collected (Dodsley, Bell).]
See A Collection of Poems Volume the Third. By Several Hands. (Dublin: Printed for Brice Edmond, bookseller, at Addison's Head, in Dame-street, 1755)
Text from The Poetical Works of James Grainger ... With Memoirs Of His Life And Writings, By Robert Anderson ... And An Index Of The Linnean Names Of Plants, &c. By William Wright. (Edinburgh--London: Stirling, Kenney, & Co.--Whittaker & Co., and J. Duncan, 1836). <Link to LION>
See A Collection of Poems Volume the Third. By Several Hands. (Dublin: Printed for Brice Edmond, bookseller, at Addison's Head, in Dame-street, 1755)
Text from The Poetical Works of James Grainger ... With Memoirs Of His Life And Writings, By Robert Anderson ... And An Index Of The Linnean Names Of Plants, &c. By William Wright. (Edinburgh--London: Stirling, Kenney, & Co.--Whittaker & Co., and J. Duncan, 1836). <Link to LION>
Date of Entry
06/08/2004
