The headlong rout's misguided rage may wage equal combat with the firm phalanx (of reasoning calms placid sense)
— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1784, 1787
Metaphor
The headlong rout's misguided rage may wage equal combat with the firm phalanx (of reasoning calms placid sense)
Metaphor in Context
Now by the glowing cheek and heaving breast
Is expectation's sanguine wish express'd.--
Ah curb your headlong ardor! nor refuse
Patient to hear the precepts of the Muse.
Sooner shall noisy heat in rash dispute
The reasoning calm of placid sense confute;
Sooner the headlong rout's misguided rage
With the firm phalanx equal combat wage,
Than the warm youth, whom anxious hopes inflame,
Pursue the fleeting mark with steady aim.
By temperate thought your glowing passions cool,
And bow the swelling heart to reason's rule;
Else when the whirring pinion, as it flies,
Alarms your startled ear, and dazzled eyes,
Unguided by the cautious arm of care,
Your random bolts shall waste their force in air.
Is expectation's sanguine wish express'd.--
Ah curb your headlong ardor! nor refuse
Patient to hear the precepts of the Muse.
Sooner shall noisy heat in rash dispute
The reasoning calm of placid sense confute;
Sooner the headlong rout's misguided rage
With the firm phalanx equal combat wage,
Than the warm youth, whom anxious hopes inflame,
Pursue the fleeting mark with steady aim.
By temperate thought your glowing passions cool,
And bow the swelling heart to reason's rule;
Else when the whirring pinion, as it flies,
Alarms your startled ear, and dazzled eyes,
Unguided by the cautious arm of care,
Your random bolts shall waste their force in air.
Categories
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1784, 1787, 1793, 1794, 1796). [Collected in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments]
See Shooting, a Poem. (London: Printed by J. Davis, Chancery Lane, for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, London; and Mess. Prince and Cooke, Oxford, 1784). <Link to ESTC>
See also Poems on Various Subjects. By Henry James Pye, 2 vols. (London: John Stockdale, 1787). <Link to ECCO> <Link to vol. ii in Google Books>
See Shooting, a Poem. (London: Printed by J. Davis, Chancery Lane, for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, London; and Mess. Prince and Cooke, Oxford, 1784). <Link to ESTC>
See also Poems on Various Subjects. By Henry James Pye, 2 vols. (London: John Stockdale, 1787). <Link to ECCO> <Link to vol. ii in Google Books>
Date of Entry
06/22/2004
