"Beyond the woody Tamar, fancy trac'd; / And, as she spread the glowing tint, it seem'd / No fairy picture: for young hope reliev'd / With golden rays each figure fancy drew"
— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell, and Sold by C. Dilly, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson
Date
1792
Metaphor
"Beyond the woody Tamar, fancy trac'd; / And, as she spread the glowing tint, it seem'd / No fairy picture: for young hope reliev'd / With golden rays each figure fancy drew"
Metaphor in Context
Alas! while difficulties such as these
Obstruct the preacher, who would undertake
But with full many a fear, the preacher's task?
Who would attempt, but with a tremulous hope
Misgiving oft, so arduous an emprize?--
Alas! for him, who with rude hand awakes
To solemn numbers the didactic lyre,
What but sincerity, that fearless trusts
To its own conscious feelings, could excuse
These efforts, all too feeble? Yet he grasps,
Tho' weak his powers to execute, the sense
Of what is great and glorious; and, perchance,
Sees, in his art, the principles that form
A perfect model. Nurtur'd in the seat
Of academic ease, he there imbib'd
The love of sacred wisdom; tho' the muse
Of Siloa, uninvok'd, inspir'd not then
His song. But in those avenues that erst
O'erarch'd a BAGOT (proud to embower such worth--
Such virtues in their venerable shade)
There, musing oft on future scenes, he form'd
The prospect of ideal good--to flow
From his impassion'd preaching. Nor unmark'd
His decent fane, nor unreview'd his charge;
That not at distance from his natal spot
Beyond the woody Tamar, fancy trac'd;
And, as she spread the glowing tint, it seem'd
No fairy picture: for young hope reliev'd
With golden rays each figure fancy drew.
Obstruct the preacher, who would undertake
But with full many a fear, the preacher's task?
Who would attempt, but with a tremulous hope
Misgiving oft, so arduous an emprize?--
Alas! for him, who with rude hand awakes
To solemn numbers the didactic lyre,
What but sincerity, that fearless trusts
To its own conscious feelings, could excuse
These efforts, all too feeble? Yet he grasps,
Tho' weak his powers to execute, the sense
Of what is great and glorious; and, perchance,
Sees, in his art, the principles that form
A perfect model. Nurtur'd in the seat
Of academic ease, he there imbib'd
The love of sacred wisdom; tho' the muse
Of Siloa, uninvok'd, inspir'd not then
His song. But in those avenues that erst
O'erarch'd a BAGOT (proud to embower such worth--
Such virtues in their venerable shade)
There, musing oft on future scenes, he form'd
The prospect of ideal good--to flow
From his impassion'd preaching. Nor unmark'd
His decent fane, nor unreview'd his charge;
That not at distance from his natal spot
Beyond the woody Tamar, fancy trac'd;
And, as she spread the glowing tint, it seem'd
No fairy picture: for young hope reliev'd
With golden rays each figure fancy drew.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1792).
See Richard Polewhele, ed. Poems, Chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall., 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1792). <Link to ECCO>
See Richard Polewhele, ed. Poems, Chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall., 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1792). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/01/2005
