"Must not a being, then, by nature wrought, / To show her power in matter, and in thought, /Each light impression thrilling through his frame, /Inspired by heaven's most sublimated flame;"
— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)
Work Title
Date
1773, 1810
Metaphor
"Must not a being, then, by nature wrought, / To show her power in matter, and in thought, /Each light impression thrilling through his frame, /Inspired by heaven's most sublimated flame;"
Metaphor in Context
Is not the ball's velocity of course
Just in proportion to the impelling force?
Is not the river's current swift, or slow,
As watery weight, and slope promote it's flow?
Must not a being, then, by nature wrought,
To show her power in matter, and in thought,
Each light impression thrilling through his frame,
Inspired by heaven's most sublimated flame;
Must not he quit the common mortal sphere,
And take an ardent, and a wide career;
Now æther's heights undauntedly explore,
And wander now on Styx's dreary shore;
Prostrate his mind, and rapt in bliss, by turns,
As the man flags, or as the angel burns:
By virtue, now, to groves Athenian led,
Where Plato's genius hovers o'er his head;
A heedless victim, now, to low desire;
All nerve his body, and his soul all fire?
Just in proportion to the impelling force?
Is not the river's current swift, or slow,
As watery weight, and slope promote it's flow?
Must not a being, then, by nature wrought,
To show her power in matter, and in thought,
Each light impression thrilling through his frame,
Inspired by heaven's most sublimated flame;
Must not he quit the common mortal sphere,
And take an ardent, and a wide career;
Now æther's heights undauntedly explore,
And wander now on Styx's dreary shore;
Prostrate his mind, and rapt in bliss, by turns,
As the man flags, or as the angel burns:
By virtue, now, to groves Athenian led,
Where Plato's genius hovers o'er his head;
A heedless victim, now, to low desire;
All nerve his body, and his soul all fire?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "thought" and "impression" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1773).
Text from The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale. 2 vols. (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and W. Clarke, By W. Pople, 1810).
See The Poet. A Poem. (London : printed for W. Flexney, opposite Gray’s-Inn-Gate, Holborn, 1773). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale. 2 vols. (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and W. Clarke, By W. Pople, 1810).
See The Poet. A Poem. (London : printed for W. Flexney, opposite Gray’s-Inn-Gate, Holborn, 1773). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
05/20/2005
