"But I thank the hard steel that environs my heart; / The steel that has grown, by salabrious time, / Who corrects the wild ardour of love, and of rhyme:"
— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and W. Clarke, By W. Pople
Date
1810
Metaphor
"But I thank the hard steel that environs my heart; / The steel that has grown, by salabrious time, / Who corrects the wild ardour of love, and of rhyme:"
Metaphor in Context
When Laura enforces her empire, with ease,
Her beauty to charm, and her talents to please;
When, diffusing love's gentle, yet mighty controul,
Her eye strikes each inmost recess of the soul;
In life's drama I still find my delicate part;
But I thank the hard steel that environs my heart;
The steel that has grown, by salabrious time,
Who corrects the wild ardour of love, and of rhyme:
(Oh! skreen me, old God! from the shafts of the fair;
And give to my verse a more dignified air!)
But should that unfortunate steel have one pore;
Her fire will pervade me, and life is no more:
For who would live longer in exquisite pains;
From new joys interdicted by rusty old chains!
Her beauty to charm, and her talents to please;
When, diffusing love's gentle, yet mighty controul,
Her eye strikes each inmost recess of the soul;
In life's drama I still find my delicate part;
But I thank the hard steel that environs my heart;
The steel that has grown, by salabrious time,
Who corrects the wild ardour of love, and of rhyme:
(Oh! skreen me, old God! from the shafts of the fair;
And give to my verse a more dignified air!)
But should that unfortunate steel have one pore;
Her fire will pervade me, and life is no more:
For who would live longer in exquisite pains;
From new joys interdicted by rusty old chains!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale. 2 vols. (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and W. Clarke, By W. Pople, 1810).
Date of Entry
06/11/2005
