"Thou hast no flinty heart which cannot feel, / Thy bosom is not braced with chains of steel."
— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)
Author
Place of Publication
Exeter
Publisher
Printed by W. Grigg
Date
1781, 1791
Metaphor
"Thou hast no flinty heart which cannot feel, / Thy bosom is not braced with chains of steel."
Metaphor in Context
E'en at the last, thou still my sight shalt bless,
And my weak hand shall strive thy hand to press.
How wilt thou mourn, and droop thy pensive head,
When on my bed of death I shall be laid!
Yes, thou wilt mourn, my pale, cold limbs embrace,
And bathe with ineffectual tears my face.
Thou hast no flinty heart which cannot feel,
Thy bosom is not braced with chains of steel.
With streaming eyes see me inhumed in clay,
Nor force shall tear thee from my grave away.
Yet oh! thy cheeks at that dread moment spare,
Nor rend the flowing tresses of thy hair!
Tho torn from thee by death's relentless will,
My conscious soul shall fondly view thee still.
And my weak hand shall strive thy hand to press.
How wilt thou mourn, and droop thy pensive head,
When on my bed of death I shall be laid!
Yes, thou wilt mourn, my pale, cold limbs embrace,
And bathe with ineffectual tears my face.
Thou hast no flinty heart which cannot feel,
Thy bosom is not braced with chains of steel.
With streaming eyes see me inhumed in clay,
Nor force shall tear thee from my grave away.
Yet oh! thy cheeks at that dread moment spare,
Nor rend the flowing tresses of thy hair!
Tho torn from thee by death's relentless will,
My conscious soul shall fondly view thee still.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "bosom" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1781, 1791, 1792).
Text from Poems to Thespia. To Which are Added, Sonnets, &c. (Exeter: Printed by R. Trewman and Son, 1791). <Link to ECCO>
See also Hugh Downman, Poems to Thespia (Exeter: Printed by W. Grigg, 1781). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems to Thespia. To Which are Added, Sonnets, &c. (Exeter: Printed by R. Trewman and Son, 1791). <Link to ECCO>
See also Hugh Downman, Poems to Thespia (Exeter: Printed by W. Grigg, 1781). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
Date of Review
05/23/2011
