Music may hold "sov'reign empire o'er the heart"
— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Date
1761, 1765
Metaphor
Music may hold "sov'reign empire o'er the heart"
Metaphor in Context
Say, Music! by what fascinating art,
Dost thou hold sov'reign empire o'er the heart?
Say, whence thy pow'rs mysterious can arise,
Sure some ecstatic impulse from the skies,
By ev'ry nerve that vibrates to the brain,
The soft ascendant o'er the soul to gain?
Rapid and sudden, like ethereal fire,
All the whole man resistless to inspire?
Dost thou hold sov'reign empire o'er the heart?
Say, whence thy pow'rs mysterious can arise,
Sure some ecstatic impulse from the skies,
By ev'ry nerve that vibrates to the brain,
The soft ascendant o'er the soul to gain?
Rapid and sudden, like ethereal fire,
All the whole man resistless to inspire?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "empire" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1761, 1765, 1780).
Text from 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>
See Vertumnus; or, The Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow : Printed for Robert Urie, 1761). [published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author.] <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also Vertumnus; or the Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow: printed by R. and T. Duncan, 1780). 1761). [Published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author, not in ECCO and not consulted.] <Link to ESTC>
Text from 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>
See Vertumnus; or, The Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow : Printed for Robert Urie, 1761). [published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author.] <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also Vertumnus; or the Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow: printed by R. and T. Duncan, 1780). 1761). [Published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author, not in ECCO and not consulted.] <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
08/22/2004
