What availed the songs of a "mighty mind, / With inward light irradiate, mirror-like / Receiv'd, and to mankind with ray reflex / The sov'reign Planter's primal work display'd?"
— Mason, William (1725-1797)
Author
Work Title
Date
1772-1781
Metaphor
What availed the songs of a "mighty mind, / With inward light irradiate, mirror-like / Receiv'd, and to mankind with ray reflex / The sov'reign Planter's primal work display'd?"
Metaphor in Context
Thus, with a Poet's power, the Sage's pen
Pourtray'd that nicer negligence of scene,
Which Taste approves. While he, delicious swain,
Who tun'd his oaten pipe by Mulla's stream,
Accordant touch'd the stops in Dorian mood:
What time he 'gan to paint the fairy vale,
Where stands the fane of Venus. Well I ween
That then, if ever, Colin, thy fond hand
Did steep its pencil in the well-fount clear
Of true simplicity; and "call'd in Art
"Only to second Nature, and supply
"All that the Nymph forgot, or left forlorn."
Yet what avail'd the song? or what avail'd
Ev'n thine, thou chief of Bards, whose mighty mind,
With inward light irradiate, mirror-like
Receiv'd, and to mankind with ray reflex
The sov'reign Planter's primal work display'd?
That work, where not nice Art in curious knots,
"But Nature boon pour'd forth on hill and dale
"Flowers worthy of Paradise; while all around
"Umbrageous grotts, and caves of cool recess,
"And murmuring waters down the slope dispers'd,
"Or held, by fringed banks, in crystal lakes,
"Compose a rural seat of various view."
'Twas thus great Nature's herald blazon'd high
That fair original impress, which she bore
In state sublime; e'er miscreated Art,
Offspring of Sin and Shame, the banner seiz'd,
And with adulterate pageantry defil'd.
Yet vainly, Milton, did thy voice proclaim
These her primæval honours. Still she lay
Defac'd, deflower'd, full many a ruthless year:
Alike, when Charles, the abject tool of France,
Came back to smile his subjects into slaves;
Or Belgic William, with his warrior frown,
Coldly declar'd them free; in fetters still
The Goddess pin'd, by both alike opprest.
(Book I)
Pourtray'd that nicer negligence of scene,
Which Taste approves. While he, delicious swain,
Who tun'd his oaten pipe by Mulla's stream,
Accordant touch'd the stops in Dorian mood:
What time he 'gan to paint the fairy vale,
Where stands the fane of Venus. Well I ween
That then, if ever, Colin, thy fond hand
Did steep its pencil in the well-fount clear
Of true simplicity; and "call'd in Art
"Only to second Nature, and supply
"All that the Nymph forgot, or left forlorn."
Yet what avail'd the song? or what avail'd
Ev'n thine, thou chief of Bards, whose mighty mind,
With inward light irradiate, mirror-like
Receiv'd, and to mankind with ray reflex
The sov'reign Planter's primal work display'd?
That work, where not nice Art in curious knots,
"But Nature boon pour'd forth on hill and dale
"Flowers worthy of Paradise; while all around
"Umbrageous grotts, and caves of cool recess,
"And murmuring waters down the slope dispers'd,
"Or held, by fringed banks, in crystal lakes,
"Compose a rural seat of various view."
'Twas thus great Nature's herald blazon'd high
That fair original impress, which she bore
In state sublime; e'er miscreated Art,
Offspring of Sin and Shame, the banner seiz'd,
And with adulterate pageantry defil'd.
Yet vainly, Milton, did thy voice proclaim
These her primæval honours. Still she lay
Defac'd, deflower'd, full many a ruthless year:
Alike, when Charles, the abject tool of France,
Came back to smile his subjects into slaves;
Or Belgic William, with his warrior frown,
Coldly declar'd them free; in fetters still
The Goddess pin'd, by both alike opprest.
(Book I)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "mirror" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Books issued separately and then collected in 1781. First book in 1772, second in 1777, third in 1779. All four printed together in The English Garden: A Poem. In Four Books (York: Printed by A. Ward, 1781). <Link to ECCO>
13 entries in ESTC (1772, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1786).
Text from The Works of William Mason, 4 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811), I, 201ff. <Link to vol. I in Google Books>
13 entries in ESTC (1772, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1786).
Text from The Works of William Mason, 4 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811), I, 201ff. <Link to vol. I in Google Books>
Date of Entry
06/28/2005
