"Banish the dire impression from my breast. / For still I see the monster, as he stood."
— Wilkie, William (1721-1772)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by Hamilton, Balfour, & Neill
Date
1757, 1769
Metaphor
"Banish the dire impression from my breast. / For still I see the monster, as he stood."
Metaphor in Context
He said, and seizing lifts them both on high,
With hands and feet extended in the sky:
Then dash'd them thrice against the rocky shore;
Gnaw'd their warm flesh, and drank their streaming gore.
Oft have I seen the havoc of the plain,
The rage of tempests and the stormy main;
But fate, in such a form, ne'er met my eyes,
And, while I speak, afresh its horrors rise
To chill my veins: nor can the vary'd state
Of sprightly youth, and middle age sedate,
Or life's last stage with all its griefs opprest,
Banish the dire impression from my breast.
For still I see the monster, as he stood,
His hairy visage dy'd in human blood:
As the grim lion leaves the wasted plains,
Red from the ravage of the flocks and swains.
(Cf. pp. 93-4 in 1757 ed.)
With hands and feet extended in the sky:
Then dash'd them thrice against the rocky shore;
Gnaw'd their warm flesh, and drank their streaming gore.
Oft have I seen the havoc of the plain,
The rage of tempests and the stormy main;
But fate, in such a form, ne'er met my eyes,
And, while I speak, afresh its horrors rise
To chill my veins: nor can the vary'd state
Of sprightly youth, and middle age sedate,
Or life's last stage with all its griefs opprest,
Banish the dire impression from my breast.
For still I see the monster, as he stood,
His hairy visage dy'd in human blood:
As the grim lion leaves the wasted plains,
Red from the ravage of the flocks and swains.
(Cf. pp. 93-4 in 1757 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "impression" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in 1757 edition
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1757, 1759, 1769).
See The Epigoniad. A Poem. In Nine Books. (Edinburgh: Printed by Hamilton, Balfour, & Neill, 1757). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition: The Epigoniad. A Poem. In Nine Books. By William Wilkie, The Second Edition, Carefully Corrected and Improved. To which is Added, A Dream. In the Manner of Spenser. (London: J. Murray, 1769). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See The Epigoniad. A Poem. In Nine Books. (Edinburgh: Printed by Hamilton, Balfour, & Neill, 1757). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition: The Epigoniad. A Poem. In Nine Books. By William Wilkie, The Second Edition, Carefully Corrected and Improved. To which is Added, A Dream. In the Manner of Spenser. (London: J. Murray, 1769). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
05/20/2005
