"Desires more warm their natal throne maintain, / Platonic passions only reach the brain."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)


Date
1754, 1793
Metaphor
"Desires more warm their natal throne maintain, / Platonic passions only reach the brain."
Metaphor in Context
Perhaps some lover may thy soul inflame,
For nature in each bosom is the same;
Then, but by slow degrees, his fate decide,
And gratify at once thy love and pride.
For love and pride, beneath each dark disguise,
Heave in your breast, and sparkle in your eyes:
Howe'er your sex in chastity pretend
To hate the lover, but admire the friend,
Desires more warm their natal throne maintain,
Platonic passions only reach the brain.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "passion" and "throne" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 3 entries in ESTC (1754, 1793).

See A. G., Advice to the Ladies. A Satyr. ([London?]: Printed in the year, 1754). <Link to ECCO>

Text from Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock; Together With an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which Is Prefixed a New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. (Edinburgh: Printed by Alexander Chapman and Company; sold by W. Creech, Edinburgh, and T. Cadell, London, 1793). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
01/25/2006

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.