The mind holds "each parted form," "like the after-echoing" of a storm
— Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851)
Author
Work Title
Date
1790
Metaphor
The mind holds "each parted form," "like the after-echoing" of a storm
Metaphor in Context
YE are the spirits who preside
In earth and air and ocean wide;
In hissing flood and crackling fire;
In horror dread and tumult dire;
In stilly calm and stormy wind,
And rule the answering changes in the human mind.
High on the tempest-beaten hill,
Your misty shapes ye shift at will;
The wild fantastic clouds yet form;
Your voice is in the midnight storm,
Whilst in the dark and lonely hour,
Oft starts the boldest heart, and owns your secret power.
From you, when growling storms are past,
And lighting ceases on the waste,
And when the scene of blood is o'er,
And groans of death are heard no more,
Still holds the mind each parted form,
Like the after-echoing of th' o'erpassed storm.
When closing glooms o'erspread the day,
And what we love has passed away,
Ye kindly bid each pleasing scene
Within the bosom to remain,
Like moons who do their watches run
With the reflected brightness of the parted sun.
(ll. 1- 24, p. 440)
In earth and air and ocean wide;
In hissing flood and crackling fire;
In horror dread and tumult dire;
In stilly calm and stormy wind,
And rule the answering changes in the human mind.
High on the tempest-beaten hill,
Your misty shapes ye shift at will;
The wild fantastic clouds yet form;
Your voice is in the midnight storm,
Whilst in the dark and lonely hour,
Oft starts the boldest heart, and owns your secret power.
From you, when growling storms are past,
And lighting ceases on the waste,
And when the scene of blood is o'er,
And groans of death are heard no more,
Still holds the mind each parted form,
Like the after-echoing of th' o'erpassed storm.
When closing glooms o'erspread the day,
And what we love has passed away,
Ye kindly bid each pleasing scene
Within the bosom to remain,
Like moons who do their watches run
With the reflected brightness of the parted sun.
(ll. 1- 24, p. 440)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Lonsdale, R. Ed. Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
07/29/2003
