"When Reason, on her dictatorial throne, / Argues and pleads, with undecisive tone; / Thy rhetoric of sound, beyond her aid, / Thy lyre-breath'd strains of language can persuade."
— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by A. Donaldson and J. Reid
Date
1765
Metaphor
"When Reason, on her dictatorial throne, / Argues and pleads, with undecisive tone; / Thy rhetoric of sound, beyond her aid, / Thy lyre-breath'd strains of language can persuade."
Metaphor in Context
When all the charms of oratory fail
To rouse the soul, thy pathos can prevail.
Let Cicero his wordy thunder wield,
If Orpheus plays, the Roman boast must yield.
That vigour to a senate-house might give,
This made ev'n things inanimate to live.
When Reason, on her dictatorial throne,
Argues and pleads, with undecisive tone;
Thy rhetoric of sound, beyond her aid,
Thy lyre-breath'd strains of language can persuade.
To rouse the soul, thy pathos can prevail.
Let Cicero his wordy thunder wield,
If Orpheus plays, the Roman boast must yield.
That vigour to a senate-house might give,
This made ev'n things inanimate to live.
When Reason, on her dictatorial throne,
Argues and pleads, with undecisive tone;
Thy rhetoric of sound, beyond her aid,
Thy lyre-breath'd strains of language can persuade.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "throne" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1765, 1775).
Original Poems on Several Subjects. In Two Volumes. By William Stevenson (Edinburgh: Printed by A. Donaldson and J. Reid. Sold by Alexander Donaldson, in London and Edinburgh, 1765). <Link to ESTC>
Found also in The Caledoniad. A Collection of Poems, Written Chiefly by Scottish Authors. (London: Printed by W. Hay; and sold at his shop, next to the Academy of Artists, near Exeter Exchange, Strand, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
Original Poems on Several Subjects. In Two Volumes. By William Stevenson (Edinburgh: Printed by A. Donaldson and J. Reid. Sold by Alexander Donaldson, in London and Edinburgh, 1765). <Link to ESTC>
Found also in The Caledoniad. A Collection of Poems, Written Chiefly by Scottish Authors. (London: Printed by W. Hay; and sold at his shop, next to the Academy of Artists, near Exeter Exchange, Strand, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/28/2004
