"'Gainst fear and pity now thy bosom steel, / For sights more horrible I now reveal!"
— Hayley, William (1745-1820)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley
Date
1781
Metaphor
"'Gainst fear and pity now thy bosom steel, / For sights more horrible I now reveal!"
Metaphor in Context
So speaking, the kind Spirit's anxious care
Led from the palace the attentive fair,
And, winding through a passage dark and rude,
Thus the mild monitor her speech renew'd:
"'Gainst fear and pity now thy bosom steel,
For sights more horrible I now reveal!
Spleen's tortur'd victims view with dauntless eyes;
For lo! her penal realms before thee rise!"
The nymph advancing saw, with mute amaze,
A dismal, deep, enormous dungeon blaze.
Stones of red fire the hideous wall compos'd;
And massive gates the horrid confine clos'd,
Th' infernal portress of this doleful dome,
With fiery lips, that swell'd with poisonous foam,
Pale Discord, rag'd; with whose tormenting tongue,
Thro' all its caves th' extensive region rung:
A living vulture was the fury's crest;
And in her hand a rattlesnake she prest,
Whose angry joints incessantly were heard
To sound defiance to the screaming bird.
Led from the palace the attentive fair,
And, winding through a passage dark and rude,
Thus the mild monitor her speech renew'd:
"'Gainst fear and pity now thy bosom steel,
For sights more horrible I now reveal!
Spleen's tortur'd victims view with dauntless eyes;
For lo! her penal realms before thee rise!"
The nymph advancing saw, with mute amaze,
A dismal, deep, enormous dungeon blaze.
Stones of red fire the hideous wall compos'd;
And massive gates the horrid confine clos'd,
Th' infernal portress of this doleful dome,
With fiery lips, that swell'd with poisonous foam,
Pale Discord, rag'd; with whose tormenting tongue,
Thro' all its caves th' extensive region rung:
A living vulture was the fury's crest;
And in her hand a rattlesnake she prest,
Whose angry joints incessantly were heard
To sound defiance to the screaming bird.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "bosom" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Ten entries in ESTC, London editions (1781, 1782, 1784, 1788, 1793).
First published as The Triumphs of Temper; A Poem: In Six Cantos. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1781). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition in Google Books>
Text from new edition of Hayley's Poems and Plays, 6 vols. (London: T. Cadell, 1788).
First published as The Triumphs of Temper; A Poem: In Six Cantos. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1781). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition in Google Books>
Text from new edition of Hayley's Poems and Plays, 6 vols. (London: T. Cadell, 1788).
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
