An "unquenchable" spark may glow within the breast and blaze into freedom
— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
York
Publisher
Mason
Date
1775
Metaphor
An "unquenchable" spark may glow within the breast and blaze into freedom
Metaphor in Context
On this base
My great revenge shall rise; or say we sound
The trump of liberty; there will not want,
Even in the servile senate, ears to own
Her spirit-stirring voice; Soranus there,
And Cassius; Veto too, and Thrasea,
Minds of the antique cast, rough, stubborn souls,
That struggle with the yoke. How shall the spark
Unquenchable, that glows within their breasts,
Blaze into freedom, when the idle herd
(Slaves from the womb, created but to stare
And bellow in the Circus) yet will start,
And shake 'em at the name of liberty,
Stung by a senseless word, a vain tradition,
As there were magic in it? Wrinkled beldams
Teach it their grandchildren, as somewhat rare
That anciently appeared, but when, extends
Beyond their chronicle--oh! 'tis a cause
To arm the hand of childhood, and rebrace
The slackened sinews of time-wearied age.
(ll. 118-137, pp. 39-40)
My great revenge shall rise; or say we sound
The trump of liberty; there will not want,
Even in the servile senate, ears to own
Her spirit-stirring voice; Soranus there,
And Cassius; Veto too, and Thrasea,
Minds of the antique cast, rough, stubborn souls,
That struggle with the yoke. How shall the spark
Unquenchable, that glows within their breasts,
Blaze into freedom, when the idle herd
(Slaves from the womb, created but to stare
And bellow in the Circus) yet will start,
And shake 'em at the name of liberty,
Stung by a senseless word, a vain tradition,
As there were magic in it? Wrinkled beldams
Teach it their grandchildren, as somewhat rare
That anciently appeared, but when, extends
Beyond their chronicle--oh! 'tis a cause
To arm the hand of childhood, and rebrace
The slackened sinews of time-wearied age.
(ll. 118-137, pp. 39-40)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Reading Roger Lonsdale's edition of The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, and Oliver Goldsmith (London and New York: Longman and Norton: 1972).
Date of Entry
11/11/2003
