"Imagination shap'd continual schemes, / And fill'd with figures odd her airy dreams, / While Fancy flew around with golden wings, / And coin'd conceptions of substantial Things."
— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Work Title
Date
1814, 1816, 1896
Metaphor
"Imagination shap'd continual schemes, / And fill'd with figures odd her airy dreams, / While Fancy flew around with golden wings, / And coin'd conceptions of substantial Things."
Metaphor in Context
Ten golden guineas, once, in former time,
His Heart and Conscience could not count a Crime;
But felt his head approve--his Heart expand,
When he, full glad, held forth his eager hand.
That was the Gift of Grace, and Love, and Truth,
And tender'd, freely, in the time of Youth;
When each new Year his beauteous Partner bore,
Adding fresh burden to the Year before.
Then those exhibited extatic charms,
And eas'd his Mind of many harsh alarms--
Infus'd fresh hopes, and thrill'd through every nerve,
To think what useful purpose each would serve--
Imagination shap'd continual schemes,
And fill'd with figures odd her airy dreams,
While Fancy flew around with golden wings,
And coin'd conceptions of substantial Things:
But prudent Reason in the rear pursued,
Correcting all their views, and visions, crude;
And while she rectified those various pranks,
Sent Gratitude to Heav'n with praise and thanks.
His Heart and Conscience could not count a Crime;
But felt his head approve--his Heart expand,
When he, full glad, held forth his eager hand.
That was the Gift of Grace, and Love, and Truth,
And tender'd, freely, in the time of Youth;
When each new Year his beauteous Partner bore,
Adding fresh burden to the Year before.
Then those exhibited extatic charms,
And eas'd his Mind of many harsh alarms--
Infus'd fresh hopes, and thrill'd through every nerve,
To think what useful purpose each would serve--
Imagination shap'd continual schemes,
And fill'd with figures odd her airy dreams,
While Fancy flew around with golden wings,
And coin'd conceptions of substantial Things:
But prudent Reason in the rear pursued,
Correcting all their views, and visions, crude;
And while she rectified those various pranks,
Sent Gratitude to Heav'n with praise and thanks.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Poem first published in its entirety in 1896. The 1814 first edition receives notice in The New Monthly Magazine (March 1815); the poem was written "in the last century" (w. 1795-1820?).
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Theme
Flights of Fancy
Date of Entry
06/01/2005
Date of Review
12/02/2009
