Earthly pleasures are "Not meant by heav'n to perish unenjoy'd, / Or pass'd with scorn by superstitious pride; / Nor, grov'ling here, the brutal soul to chain, / Where happiness is still alloy'd with pain; / But there the soaring intellect to fix, / Where pain or sorrow ne'er with transport mix."
— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the author, and sold by Dodsley
Date
1766
Metaphor
Earthly pleasures are "Not meant by heav'n to perish unenjoy'd, / Or pass'd with scorn by superstitious pride; / Nor, grov'ling here, the brutal soul to chain, / Where happiness is still alloy'd with pain; / But there the soaring intellect to fix, / Where pain or sorrow ne'er with transport mix."
Metaphor in Context
The muse no longer now, with chearful strain,
Describes the charms of this Hesperian scene;
But thus, retiring, wakes her plaintive voice:
As Eve bewail'd the loss of Paradise.
Though all thy flow'rets bloom beyond compare,
Thy fountains more than other fountains fair;
No shrubs, no trees, as thine so fresh and gay,
More soft thy songsters flute from ev'ry spray:
Sweet scene of love! what blissful charms are thine!
And must I all thy dear delights resign?
Yes, fleeting Time, with frowning brow severe,
Sternly forbids a longer durance here;
And other scenes the roving muse invite,
For fickle mortals still in change delight;
For pleasure new awakens new desire,
And makes the past with slighter pangs retire;
Progressive thus, each sublunary joy
Shall quickly vanish, or will quickly cloy;
Except the pleasures that a virtuous mind
In acts of goodness may for ever find.
The reason's plain; the grosser joys of sense
Ne'er mix with those of pure benevolence;
That rapt'ring foretaste of the bliss above,
Where all is endless ecstasy and love.
But earthly pleasures, like man's earthly frame,
Nor long endure, nor long remain the same:
Yet, though so transitory is their date,
Adapted to this low terrestrial state,
They're fix'd to be in Providence's plan
Yearly renew'd, and last the date of man;
Not meant by heav'n to perish unenjoy'd,
Or pass'd with scorn by superstitious pride;
Nor, grov'ling here, the brutal soul to chain,
Where happiness is still alloy'd with pain;
But there the soaring intellect to fix,
Where pain or sorrow ne'er with transport mix.
Describes the charms of this Hesperian scene;
But thus, retiring, wakes her plaintive voice:
As Eve bewail'd the loss of Paradise.
Though all thy flow'rets bloom beyond compare,
Thy fountains more than other fountains fair;
No shrubs, no trees, as thine so fresh and gay,
More soft thy songsters flute from ev'ry spray:
Sweet scene of love! what blissful charms are thine!
And must I all thy dear delights resign?
Yes, fleeting Time, with frowning brow severe,
Sternly forbids a longer durance here;
And other scenes the roving muse invite,
For fickle mortals still in change delight;
For pleasure new awakens new desire,
And makes the past with slighter pangs retire;
Progressive thus, each sublunary joy
Shall quickly vanish, or will quickly cloy;
Except the pleasures that a virtuous mind
In acts of goodness may for ever find.
The reason's plain; the grosser joys of sense
Ne'er mix with those of pure benevolence;
That rapt'ring foretaste of the bliss above,
Where all is endless ecstasy and love.
But earthly pleasures, like man's earthly frame,
Nor long endure, nor long remain the same:
Yet, though so transitory is their date,
Adapted to this low terrestrial state,
They're fix'd to be in Providence's plan
Yearly renew'd, and last the date of man;
Not meant by heav'n to perish unenjoy'd,
Or pass'd with scorn by superstitious pride;
Nor, grov'ling here, the brutal soul to chain,
Where happiness is still alloy'd with pain;
But there the soaring intellect to fix,
Where pain or sorrow ne'er with transport mix.
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1766).
Poems on Several Occasions. By James Woodhouse, Journeyman Shoemaker, 2nd edition (London: Printed for the author, and sold by Dodsley, 1766). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO><Link to Hathi Trust><Link to Google Books>
Note, some poems in this edition first collected in 1764 in Poems on Sundry Occasions. Note, also, the collection published in 1788 with title Poems on Several Occasions does not contain the same poems. Cf. ESTC and Brit. Mus. Catalogue.
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Poems on Several Occasions. By James Woodhouse, Journeyman Shoemaker, 2nd edition (London: Printed for the author, and sold by Dodsley, 1766). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO><Link to Hathi Trust><Link to Google Books>
Note, some poems in this edition first collected in 1764 in Poems on Sundry Occasions. Note, also, the collection published in 1788 with title Poems on Several Occasions does not contain the same poems. Cf. ESTC and Brit. Mus. Catalogue.
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Date of Entry
08/09/2004
Date of Review
05/26/2011
