"Whence can this very motion take its birth? / Not sure from matter, from dull clods of earth; / But from a living spirit lodg'd within, / Which governs all the bodily machine"
— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787); Browne, Isaac Hawkins (1706-1760)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1761, 1790
Metaphor
"Whence can this very motion take its birth? / Not sure from matter, from dull clods of earth; / But from a living spirit lodg'd within, / Which governs all the bodily machine"
Metaphor in Context
Allow that motion is the cause of thought,
With what strange pow'rs must motion then be fraught?
Reason, sense, science, must derive their source
From the wheel's rapid whirl, or pully's force:
Tops whip'd by school-boys sages must commence,
Their hoops, like them, be cudgel'd into sense,
And boiling pots o'erflow with eloquence.
Whence can this very motion take its birth?
Not sure from matter, from dull clods of earth;
But from a living spirit lodg'd within,
Which governs all the bodily machine:
Just as th' Almighty Universal Soul
Informs, directs, and animates the whole.
With what strange pow'rs must motion then be fraught?
Reason, sense, science, must derive their source
From the wheel's rapid whirl, or pully's force:
Tops whip'd by school-boys sages must commence,
Their hoops, like them, be cudgel'd into sense,
And boiling pots o'erflow with eloquence.
Whence can this very motion take its birth?
Not sure from matter, from dull clods of earth;
But from a living spirit lodg'd within,
Which governs all the bodily machine:
Just as th' Almighty Universal Soul
Informs, directs, and animates the whole.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "machine" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1761, 1770, 1790, 1793).
See Miscellaneous Pieces, in Two Volumes. ... . Containing Poems, Translations, and Essays. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, at Tully's Head, in Pall Mall, 1761).<Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Soame Jenyns ... In Four Volumes. Including Several Pieces Never Before Published. To Which are Prefixed, Short Sketches of the History of the Author's Family, and also of his Life; By Charles Nalson Cole (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1790).
See Miscellaneous Pieces, in Two Volumes. ... . Containing Poems, Translations, and Essays. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, at Tully's Head, in Pall Mall, 1761).<Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Soame Jenyns ... In Four Volumes. Including Several Pieces Never Before Published. To Which are Prefixed, Short Sketches of the History of the Author's Family, and also of his Life; By Charles Nalson Cole (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1790).
Theme
Materialism
Date of Entry
11/21/2006
