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"[N]or shall the heav'n-born mind / Oblivious linger in the silent cave / Of endless hopeless sleep"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Author

Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Work Title

Verse to the Memory of Joseph Warton, D. D. Late Head Master of Winchester-College. [from Harvest-Home: Consisting of Supplementary Gleanings, Original Dramas and Poems, Contributions of Literary Friends, and Select Re-publications, Including Sympathy, a Poem, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged. From the Eighth edition]

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for Richard Phillips

Date

1805

Metaphor

"[N]or shall the heav'n-born mind / Oblivious linger in the silent cave / Of endless hopeless sleep"

Metaphor in Context

So thine allotted station didst thou fill,
And now art passed to thy peaceful grave,
In age and honours ripe. Then not for thee
Pour we the tear of sorrow; not with strains
Like those despondent, which the Doric bard[1]
Wept for his Bion, do we tend on thee:
For other hopes are ours, and other views,
Brighter and happier scenes! No earthly chains
Shall in this dreary prison-house confine
Spirits of light; nor shall the heav'n-born mind
Oblivious linger in the silent cave
Of endless hopeless sleep. But as the Sun,
Who drove his fierce and fiery-tressed steeds
Glorious along the vault of heav'n, at length
Sinks in the bosom of the western wave;
Anon from forth the chambers of the east
To run his giant course; so didst thou set,
So mayst thou rise to glory!