"My hand, the secretary of my mind, / Leaves thee these lines upon the poplar's rind."
— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)
Date
June 1753
Metaphor
"My hand, the secretary of my mind, / Leaves thee these lines upon the poplar's rind."
Metaphor in Context
Free from the proud, the pompous, and the vain,
How simply neat, and elegantly plain
Thy rural villa lifts its modest head,
Where fair convenience reigns in fashion's stead;
Where sober plenty does its bliss impart,
And glads thine hospitable, honest heart.
Mirth without vice, and rapture without noise,
And all the decent, all the manly joys!
Beneath a shadowy bow'r, the summer's pride,
Thy darling *Tullia sitting by thy side;
Where light and shade in varied scenes display
A contrast sweet, like friendly Yea and Nay,
My hand, the secretary of my mind,
Leaves thee these lines upon the poplar's rind.
(p. 8)
* Mr B--'s daughter.
How simply neat, and elegantly plain
Thy rural villa lifts its modest head,
Where fair convenience reigns in fashion's stead;
Where sober plenty does its bliss impart,
And glads thine hospitable, honest heart.
Mirth without vice, and rapture without noise,
And all the decent, all the manly joys!
Beneath a shadowy bow'r, the summer's pride,
Thy darling *Tullia sitting by thy side;
Where light and shade in varied scenes display
A contrast sweet, like friendly Yea and Nay,
My hand, the secretary of my mind,
Leaves thee these lines upon the poplar's rind.
(p. 8)
* Mr B--'s daughter.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again reading.
Citation
First published in The Midwife; or The Old Woman’s Magazine. (June 1753). At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1753, 1757, 1791).
Text from The Poems of the Late Christopher Smart ... Consisting of His Prize Poems, Odes, Sonnets, and Fables, Latin and English Translations: Together With Many Original Compositions, Not Included in the Quarto Edition. To Which Is Prefixed, an Account of His Life and Writings, Never Before Published. 2 vols. (London: Printed and Sold by Smart and Cowslade; and sold by F. Power and Co., 1791). See vol. II, p. 79.
Reading in Katrina Williamson and Marcus Walsh, eds., Christopher Smart: Selected Poems (New York: Penguin Books, 1990).
Text from The Poems of the Late Christopher Smart ... Consisting of His Prize Poems, Odes, Sonnets, and Fables, Latin and English Translations: Together With Many Original Compositions, Not Included in the Quarto Edition. To Which Is Prefixed, an Account of His Life and Writings, Never Before Published. 2 vols. (London: Printed and Sold by Smart and Cowslade; and sold by F. Power and Co., 1791). See vol. II, p. 79.
Reading in Katrina Williamson and Marcus Walsh, eds., Christopher Smart: Selected Poems (New York: Penguin Books, 1990).
Date of Entry
05/11/2005
Date of Review
06/20/2011
