"A sinking at my heart, as if it had been penetrated my a dagger seized me"
— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)
Place of Publication
Philadelphia
Publisher
Hugh Maxwell
Date
1799
Metaphor
"A sinking at my heart, as if it had been penetrated my a dagger seized me"
Metaphor in Context
It was as I suspected. The figure, lifting in his right hand a candle, and gazing at the bed, with lineaments and attitude, bespeaking the fearful expectation and tormenting doubts, was now beheld. One glance communicated to my senses all the parts of this terrific vision. A sinking at my heart, as if it had been penetrated my a dagger seized me. This was not enough. I uttered a shriek, too rueful and loud not to have startled the attention of the passengers, if any had, at that moment been passing the street.
Heaven seemed to have decreed that this period should be filled with trials of my equanimity and fortitude. The test of my courage was once more employed to cover me with humiliation and remorse. This second time, my fancy conjured up a spectre, and I shuddered as if the grave were forsaken and the unquiet dead haunted my pillow.
The visage and the shape had indeed preternatural attitudes, but they belonged not to Colvill, but to--WELBECK.
(Part I, chapter 20, p. 403)
Heaven seemed to have decreed that this period should be filled with trials of my equanimity and fortitude. The test of my courage was once more employed to cover me with humiliation and remorse. This second time, my fancy conjured up a spectre, and I shuddered as if the grave were forsaken and the unquiet dead haunted my pillow.
The visage and the shape had indeed preternatural attitudes, but they belonged not to Colvill, but to--WELBECK.
(Part I, chapter 20, p. 403)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First part published in 1799; second in 1800. Reading and transcribing text from Charles Brockden Brown, Three Gothic Novels. New York: Library of America,1998.
Date of Entry
07/18/2003
Date of Review
01/25/2004
