"The blossom opening to the day, / The dews of heaven refin'd, / Could nought of purity display, / To emulate his mind."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)


Place of Publication
Salisbury
Publisher
Printed by B. Collins for F. Newbery in Pater-Noster Row
Date
1766
Metaphor
"The blossom opening to the day, / The dews of heaven refin'd, / Could nought of purity display, / To emulate his mind."
Metaphor in Context
'The blossom opening to the day,
The dews of heaven refin'd,
Could nought of purity display,
To emulate his mind.


'The dew, the blossom on the tree,
With charms inconstant shine;
Their charms were his, but woe to me,
Their constancy was mine.
(VIII, p. 67)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
68 entries in the ESTC (1766, 1767, 1769, 1772, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1800).

See also Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield: A Tale. Supposed to be Written by Himself, 2 vols. (Salisbury: B. Collins, 1766). <Link to ECCO><Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II>

Reading Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, ed. Stephen Coote (London and New York: Penguin Books, 1986).
Date of Entry
09/14/2009
Date of Review
04/15/2011

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