"Oh! Heaven forbid that I should with thy breast / Steel'd to his real misery!"
— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)
Author
Place of Publication
Exeter
Publisher
Printed by Trewman and Son
Date
1803
Metaphor
"Oh! Heaven forbid that I should with thy breast / Steel'd to his real misery!"
Metaphor in Context
Yet when night spreads her mantle o'er the globe,
And leads on sleep and silence, it is meet
To obey her mandate; rest thy careful head
O mother, let thy tender nurseling rest.
Why wilt thou anxious to thyself create
Unnecessary pain? At evening close
Forth from her den starts the fell lioness,
And thro the gloomy desart urges on
Eager for prey her rapid step, she leaves
Her sleeping young one, nor expects he food
Till she return with morning's early beam.
Yet this is he, who shall hereafter reign
Lord of the forest, and with kingly voice
Appal his listening subjects. But thy heart
Is soft, and cannot bear thy infant's cries.
Oh! Heaven forbid that I should with thy breast
Steel'd to his real misery! But these
Are cries which evil custom hath begot,
And blind indulgence; unalarm'd sustain
A few short trials, bear unmoved the shock
At first; indulged not, he will fret no more.
Believe me, nor from hunger, nor from pain
These wailings spring. How different is the shriek,
And agonizing groan, from sobs like these,
Transient, and humorsome! To cloath thy child
With health some little violence endure:
Nor to the dictates plain of candid truth
Thy ancient nurse's doating saws prefer.
And leads on sleep and silence, it is meet
To obey her mandate; rest thy careful head
O mother, let thy tender nurseling rest.
Why wilt thou anxious to thyself create
Unnecessary pain? At evening close
Forth from her den starts the fell lioness,
And thro the gloomy desart urges on
Eager for prey her rapid step, she leaves
Her sleeping young one, nor expects he food
Till she return with morning's early beam.
Yet this is he, who shall hereafter reign
Lord of the forest, and with kingly voice
Appal his listening subjects. But thy heart
Is soft, and cannot bear thy infant's cries.
Oh! Heaven forbid that I should with thy breast
Steel'd to his real misery! But these
Are cries which evil custom hath begot,
And blind indulgence; unalarm'd sustain
A few short trials, bear unmoved the shock
At first; indulged not, he will fret no more.
Believe me, nor from hunger, nor from pain
These wailings spring. How different is the shriek,
And agonizing groan, from sobs like these,
Transient, and humorsome! To cloath thy child
With health some little violence endure:
Nor to the dictates plain of candid truth
Thy ancient nurse's doating saws prefer.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from Infancy, or the Management of Children: a Didactic Poem, in Six Books. The Sixth Edition. To Which Are Added Poems Not Before Published. By Hugh Downman. 6th ed. (Exeter: Printed by Trewman and Son; sold by them and Cadell and Davies, London, 1803).
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
