"'Oh! London! what calamities I see, / 'In my mind's eye," whene'er I think on thee!"
— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)
Date
1792, 1810
Metaphor
"'Oh! London! what calamities I see, / 'In my mind's eye," whene'er I think on thee!"
Metaphor in Context
Oh! London! what calamities I see,
"In my mind's eye," whene'er I think on thee!
Years lost in folly, keen reflections bring;
The death of friends inflicts an equal sting!
Delusive Capital! where talents bloom
In vigorous flower, to-day; but in the tomb,
They set, for ever, with to-morrow's light,
Wrapt in the darkness of eternal night!
Garrick, who thrilled my soul in Drury Lane;
Charmed me, at Hampton, in his Shakespear's fane;
Passed his great bard's irremeable "bourn,"
Whence "no" exempted "travellers return."
Johnson, and Hawkesworth, Goldsmith, too, I knew;
They all, uncloyed with fame, from life withdrew:
When such illustrious men resign their breath,
Even London lessens, by the work of death.
Delusive London! adverse to my strains!
Specious, thy pleasures; but severe, thy pains!
Oh! may I sing thee, in some happier page,
The great Lyceum[1] of my tranquil age!
"In my mind's eye," whene'er I think on thee!
Years lost in folly, keen reflections bring;
The death of friends inflicts an equal sting!
Delusive Capital! where talents bloom
In vigorous flower, to-day; but in the tomb,
They set, for ever, with to-morrow's light,
Wrapt in the darkness of eternal night!
Garrick, who thrilled my soul in Drury Lane;
Charmed me, at Hampton, in his Shakespear's fane;
Passed his great bard's irremeable "bourn,"
Whence "no" exempted "travellers return."
Johnson, and Hawkesworth, Goldsmith, too, I knew;
They all, uncloyed with fame, from life withdrew:
When such illustrious men resign their breath,
Even London lessens, by the work of death.
Delusive London! adverse to my strains!
Specious, thy pleasures; but severe, thy pains!
Oh! may I sing thee, in some happier page,
The great Lyceum[1] of my tranquil age!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "eye" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1792).
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).
See also Poetical Thoughts, and Views; on the Banks of the Wear. By Percival Stockdale. (Durham: Printed by L. Pennington. Sold in London, by W. Clarke, New Bond Street; Shepperson and Reynolds, Oxford Street; T. and J. Egerton, White Hall; T. Whieldon and J. Butterworth, Fleet Street; and T. Vernor, Birchin Lane, 1792).
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).
See also Poetical Thoughts, and Views; on the Banks of the Wear. By Percival Stockdale. (Durham: Printed by L. Pennington. Sold in London, by W. Clarke, New Bond Street; Shepperson and Reynolds, Oxford Street; T. and J. Egerton, White Hall; T. Whieldon and J. Butterworth, Fleet Street; and T. Vernor, Birchin Lane, 1792).
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
04/18/2006
