"'For none could more by outward signs express / 'What wise men lock within the mind's recess."
— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)
Author
Work Title
Date
1819
Metaphor
"'For none could more by outward signs express / 'What wise men lock within the mind's recess."
Metaphor in Context
"And who was I? a slender youth and tall,
"In manner awkward, and with fortune small;
"With visage pale, my motions quick and slow,
"That fall and rising in the spirits show;
"For none could more by outward signs express
"What wise men lock within the mind's recess;
"Had I a mirror set before my view,
"I might have seen what such a form could do;
"Had I within the mirror truth beheld,
"I should have such presuming thoughts repell'd
"But awkward as I was, without the grace
"That gives new beauty to a form or face,
"Still I expected friends most true to prove,
"And grateful, tender, warm, assiduous love.
"In manner awkward, and with fortune small;
"With visage pale, my motions quick and slow,
"That fall and rising in the spirits show;
"For none could more by outward signs express
"What wise men lock within the mind's recess;
"Had I a mirror set before my view,
"I might have seen what such a form could do;
"Had I within the mirror truth beheld,
"I should have such presuming thoughts repell'd
"But awkward as I was, without the grace
"That gives new beauty to a form or face,
"Still I expected friends most true to prove,
"And grateful, tender, warm, assiduous love.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Theme
Inwardness
Date of Entry
06/12/2005
