"Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars / To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers, / Is reason to the soul."

— Dryden [from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language]

Author

Dryden [from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language]

Work Title

Reason [from A Dictionary of the English Language in Which Words are Deduced from their Originals, and Illustrated in their Different Significations by Examples from the best Writers.]

Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. Strahan [etc.]
Date
1755
Metaphor
"Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars / To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers, / Is reason to the soul."
Metaphor in Context
Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers,
Is reason to the soul: and as on high,
Those rowling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
Categories
Light::Moonlight Uncategorized::Cosmos::Moon Uncategorized::Cosmos::Stars Light::Daylight Light::Starlight Light::Beams Light::Ray
Provenance
Reading Johnson's and Bailey's dictionaries
Citation
Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language: In Which the Words Are Deduced from Their Originals, and Illustrated in Their Different Significations by Examples from the Best Writers. To Which Are Prefixed, a History of the Language, and an English Grammar. New York,: AMS Press, 1967.
Date of Entry
06/24/2004
Date of Review
12/17/2011

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