"For (strange) his soul's materializ'd to gold..... Thus we the stale philosophy renew, / That souls are mortal, and material too"
— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)
Work Title
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by A. Donaldson and J. Reid
Date
1765
Metaphor
"For (strange) his soul's materializ'd to gold..... Thus we the stale philosophy renew, / That souls are mortal, and material too"
Metaphor in Context
This letter'd stone, to mortals kind, conceals
A wretch, who from himself no longer steals.
Death, in mere spite, for Death despises pelf,
Stole the astonish'd miser from himself.
Himself his friends still in embraces hold,
For (strange) his soul's materializ'd to gold.
Hence, as just Heaven to souls precedence gives,
Though coffin'd here, his nobler half still lives.
Death but destroys the body, not himself,
Mankind do more, destroy his soul, his pelf.
Thus we the stale philosophy renew,
That souls are mortal, and material too.
A wretch, who from himself no longer steals.
Death, in mere spite, for Death despises pelf,
Stole the astonish'd miser from himself.
Himself his friends still in embraces hold,
For (strange) his soul's materializ'd to gold.
Hence, as just Heaven to souls precedence gives,
Though coffin'd here, his nobler half still lives.
Death but destroys the body, not himself,
Mankind do more, destroy his soul, his pelf.
Thus we the stale philosophy renew,
That souls are mortal, and material too.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "gold" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1765).
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>
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>
Theme
Materialism
Date of Entry
05/31/2005
