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"The generous Mind expanding into Joy, / While no mean Passion mixt its base Alloy;"

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Author

Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Work Title

Epistle to a College-Friend, Written in the Country Some Years after the Author had left the University. [from Poems. Namely, The English Orator; An Address to Thomas Pennant ... An Ode on the Susceptibility of the Poetical Character; Twenty Sonnets; An Epistle to a College Friend; and The Lock Transformed. With notes on The English Orator. By Mr. Polwhele]

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for T. Cadell ... and C. Dilly [etc.]

Date

1791

Metaphor

"The generous Mind expanding into Joy, / While no mean Passion mixt its base Alloy;"

Metaphor in Context

While yet 'tis mine to trace the feeling Hour,
And win young Fancy from the Muses Bower,
Ere pressing Cares, too numerous, intervene
To disenchant the bosom-soothing Scene;
Come, nor so soon, alas! to Memory fade
Ye Views, fast-fainting into sombre Shade!
O come, where never Cares engender'd Strife,
Ye spotless Visions of untroubled Life!
There may I colour, where our College-Day
Triumph'd in youthful Spirits light and gay,
The generous Mind expanding into Joy,
While no mean Passion mixt its base Alloy;
Melt o'er our parting Moments not in vain,
Fresh as I read my Greville's Heart again;
Rescue each Sparkle of our wishing Eyes,
And from severe Oblivion steal our Sighs!