"But, for the furniture within, / Whether it be of brains, or lead, / What matters it, so there's a head?"

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley [etc.]
Date
1784
Metaphor
"But, for the furniture within, / Whether it be of brains, or lead, / What matters it, so there's a head?"
Metaphor in Context
Nature, with lib'ral hand, dispenses
Her apparatus of the senses,
In articles of gen'ral use,
Nerves, sinews, muscles, bones profuse.
Distinguishing her fav'rite race
With form erect, and featur'd face:
The flowing hair, the polish'd skin--
But, for the furniture within,
Whether it be of brains, or lead,
What matters it, so there's a head?

For wisest noddle seldom goes,
But as 'tis led by corp'ral nose.
Nor is it thinking much, but doing,
That keeps our tenements from ruin.
And hundreds eat, who spin, or knit,
For one that lives by dint of wit.
Provenance
Searching "brain" and "furniture" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
01/24/2006

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.