"Yet on the youthful mind th' impression cast / Of ancient glory shall for ever last."
— Falconer, William (bap. 1732, d. 1770)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. Cooke [etc.]
Date
1796
Metaphor
"Yet on the youthful mind th' impression cast / Of ancient glory shall for ever last."
Metaphor in Context
They did; for blasted in the barren shade,
Here, all too soon, the buds of science fade:
Sad ocean's genius, in untimely hour,
Withers the bloom of every springing flower.
Here fancy droops, while sullen cloud and storm
The generous climate of the soul deform.
Then if, among the wandering, naval train,
One stripling, exil'd from th'Aonian plain,
Had 'ere, entranc'd in fancy's soothing dream,
Approach'd to taste the sweet Castalian stream,
(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine,
To purer sense the attemper'd soul refine)
His heart with liberal commerce here unblest,
Alien to joy! sincerer grief possess'd.
Yet on the youthful mind th' impression cast
Of ancient glory shall for ever last.
There all unquench'd by cruel fortune's ire,
It glows with unextinguishable fire.
Here, all too soon, the buds of science fade:
Sad ocean's genius, in untimely hour,
Withers the bloom of every springing flower.
Here fancy droops, while sullen cloud and storm
The generous climate of the soul deform.
Then if, among the wandering, naval train,
One stripling, exil'd from th'Aonian plain,
Had 'ere, entranc'd in fancy's soothing dream,
Approach'd to taste the sweet Castalian stream,
(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine,
To purer sense the attemper'd soul refine)
His heart with liberal commerce here unblest,
Alien to joy! sincerer grief possess'd.
Yet on the youthful mind th' impression cast
Of ancient glory shall for ever last.
There all unquench'd by cruel fortune's ire,
It glows with unextinguishable fire.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "impression" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
05/15/2005
