"As when in ocean sinks the orb of day, / Long on the wave reflected lustres play; / Thy tempered gleams of happiness resigned / Glance on the darkened mirror of the mind."
— Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Davis and Sold by T. Cadell
Date
1792
Metaphor
"As when in ocean sinks the orb of day, / Long on the wave reflected lustres play; / Thy tempered gleams of happiness resigned / Glance on the darkened mirror of the mind."
Metaphor in Context
Childhood's loved group revisits every scene;
The tangled wood-walk and the tufted green!
Indulgent Memory wakes, and lo, they live!
Clothed with far softer hues than Light can give.
Thou first, best friend that Heaven assigns below
To sooth and sweeten all the cares we know;
Whose glad suggestions still each vain alarm,
When nature fades and life forgets to charm;
Thee would the Muse invoke!--to thee belong
The sage's precept and the poet's song.
What softened views thy magic glass reveals,
When o'er the landscape Time's meek twilight steals!
As when in ocean sinks the orb of day,
Long on the wave reflected lustres play;
Thy tempered gleams of happiness resigned
Glance on the darkened mirror of the mind.
The tangled wood-walk and the tufted green!
Indulgent Memory wakes, and lo, they live!
Clothed with far softer hues than Light can give.
Thou first, best friend that Heaven assigns below
To sooth and sweeten all the cares we know;
Whose glad suggestions still each vain alarm,
When nature fades and life forgets to charm;
Thee would the Muse invoke!--to thee belong
The sage's precept and the poet's song.
What softened views thy magic glass reveals,
When o'er the landscape Time's meek twilight steals!
As when in ocean sinks the orb of day,
Long on the wave reflected lustres play;
Thy tempered gleams of happiness resigned
Glance on the darkened mirror of the mind.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
14 entries in ESTC (1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800). First published in 1792; four editions within the year.
See The Pleasures of Memory, a Poem, in Two Parts. By the Author of "An Ode to Superstition, With Some Other Poems." (London: Printed by J. Davis, 1792) <Link to ECCO>. See also <1793 edition in Google Books>
Text from The Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers (1875).
See The Pleasures of Memory, a Poem, in Two Parts. By the Author of "An Ode to Superstition, With Some Other Poems." (London: Printed by J. Davis, 1792) <Link to ECCO>. See also <1793 edition in Google Books>
Text from The Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers (1875).
Date of Entry
10/21/2005
