A poet may "in robes of beauty to array, / And in bright Order's lucid blaze display, / The forms that Fancy, to thy wishes kind, / Stamps on the tablet of thy clearer mind"

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley
Date
1782
Metaphor
A poet may "in robes of beauty to array, / And in bright Order's lucid blaze display, / The forms that Fancy, to thy wishes kind, / Stamps on the tablet of thy clearer mind"
Metaphor in Context
Justly on thee th' inspiring Goddess calls;
Her mighty task each weaker Bard appalls:
'Tis thine, O Mason! with unbaffled skill,
Each harder duty of our Art to fill;
'Tis thine, in robes of beauty to array,
And in bright Order's lucid blaze display,
The forms that Fancy, to thy wishes kind,
Stamps on the tablet of thy clearer mind
.
How softly sweet thy notes of pathos swell,
The tender accents of Elfrida tell;
Caractacus proclaims, with Freedom's fire,
How rich the tone of thy sublimer Lyre;
E'en in this hour, propitious to thy fame,
The rural Deities repeat thy name:
With festive joy I hear the sylvan throng
Hail the completion of their favourite Song,
Thy graceful Song! in honour of whose power,
Delighted Flora, in her sweetest bower,
Weaves thy unfading wreath;--with fondest care,
Proudly she weaves it, emulously fair,
To match that crown, which in the Mantuan grove
The richer Ceres for her Virgil wove!
See! his Eurydice herself once more
Revisits earth from the Elysian shore!
Behold! she hovers o'er thy echoing glade!
Envy, not love, conducts the pensive Shade,
Who, trembling at thy Lyre's pathetic tone,
Fears lest Nerina's fame surpass her own.
Provenance
Searching in "stamp" and "mind" in HDIS (Poetry); Found again "fancy"
Citation
4 entries in LION and ESTC (1782, 1785, 1788).

First published as An Essay on Epic Poetry; in Five Epistles to the Revd. Mr. Mason. With Notes. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1782). <Link to Hathi Trust>

Reprinted in Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1785). <Link to ECCO>

Text from new edition of Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1788). See also William Hayley, Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq., vol. 3 of 6 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
04/07/2005

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