Time is a river that fails to enrich the mind and "leaves a dreary waste behind"
— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Joseph Johnson
Date
1782
Metaphor
Time is a river that fails to enrich the mind and "leaves a dreary waste behind"
Metaphor in Context
A Comparison
The lapse of time and rivers is the same,
Both speed their journey with a restless stream,
The silent pace with which they steal away,
No wealth can bribe, no prayers persuade to stay,
Alike irrevocable both when past,
And a wide ocean swallows both at last.
Though each resemble each in every part,
A difference strikes at length the musing heart;
Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound,
How laughs the land with various plenty crown'd!
But time that should enrich the nobler m.ind,
Neglected, leaves a dreary waste behind
(ll. 1-12, p. 402)
The lapse of time and rivers is the same,
Both speed their journey with a restless stream,
The silent pace with which they steal away,
No wealth can bribe, no prayers persuade to stay,
Alike irrevocable both when past,
And a wide ocean swallows both at last.
Though each resemble each in every part,
A difference strikes at length the musing heart;
Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound,
How laughs the land with various plenty crown'd!
But time that should enrich the nobler m.ind,
Neglected, leaves a dreary waste behind
(ll. 1-12, p. 402)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 23 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1782, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1797, 1798, 1800, 1799, 1800).
See Poems by William Cowper (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1782). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO-TCP><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Works of William Cowper (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1835-1837).
Reading The Poems of William Cowper, 3 vols. ed. John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (Oxford: Oxford UP: 1980).
See Poems by William Cowper (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1782). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO-TCP><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Works of William Cowper (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1835-1837).
Reading The Poems of William Cowper, 3 vols. ed. John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (Oxford: Oxford UP: 1980).
Date of Entry
12/16/2003
