"And, with ten thousand fervent pray'rs, have strove / Thy iron heart, O ruthless death! to move."
— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the author, and sold by Dodsley
Date
1766
Metaphor
"And, with ten thousand fervent pray'rs, have strove / Thy iron heart, O ruthless death! to move."
Metaphor in Context
Oh, had I heard thy last departing breath!
And clos'd thine eyes, thy lovely eyes! in death;
For thy example, would at last, supply
A lesson how to live, as well as die:
That I might there have pour'd mine heart, mine eyes,
In all the luxury of tears and sighs;
That ev'ry word and action might have prov'd
How much I honour'd, and how much I lov'd!
And, with ten thousand fervent pray'rs, have strove
Thy iron heart, O ruthless death! to move.
Or rather bent my knees to his blest will,
Who breaks thy shafts, or gives them pow'r to kill;
For all that art and med'cine's power could do,
O Ash, and Wall, was minister'd by you!
But ah, in vain! for fix'd was heav'n's design,
To crown his virtues, and to call forth mine.
And clos'd thine eyes, thy lovely eyes! in death;
For thy example, would at last, supply
A lesson how to live, as well as die:
That I might there have pour'd mine heart, mine eyes,
In all the luxury of tears and sighs;
That ev'ry word and action might have prov'd
How much I honour'd, and how much I lov'd!
And, with ten thousand fervent pray'rs, have strove
Thy iron heart, O ruthless death! to move.
Or rather bent my knees to his blest will,
Who breaks thy shafts, or gives them pow'r to kill;
For all that art and med'cine's power could do,
O Ash, and Wall, was minister'd by you!
But ah, in vain! for fix'd was heav'n's design,
To crown his virtues, and to call forth mine.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "iron" in 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
06/07/2005
