"Say, youth, and can'st thou keep secure / Thy heart from conquering beauty's power?"
— Hamilton, William, of Bangour (1704-1754)
Work Title
Date
1760, 1850
Metaphor
"Say, youth, and can'st thou keep secure / Thy heart from conquering beauty's power?"
Metaphor in Context
While crown'd with radiant charms divine,
Unnumber'd beauties round thee shine,
When Erskine leads her happy man,
And Johnstoun shakes the fluttering fan;
When beauteous Pringle smiles confest,
And gently heaves her swelling breast,
Her raptur'd partner still at gaze,
Pursuing through each winding maze;
Say, youth, and can'st thou keep secure
Thy heart from conquering beauty's power?
Or hast thou not, how soon! betray'd
The too believing country maid?
Whose young and inexperienc'd years
From thee no evil purpose fears;
But yielding to love's gentle sway,
Knows not that lovers can betray,
How shall she curse deceiving men?
How shall she e'er believe again?
Unnumber'd beauties round thee shine,
When Erskine leads her happy man,
And Johnstoun shakes the fluttering fan;
When beauteous Pringle smiles confest,
And gently heaves her swelling breast,
Her raptur'd partner still at gaze,
Pursuing through each winding maze;
Say, youth, and can'st thou keep secure
Thy heart from conquering beauty's power?
Or hast thou not, how soon! betray'd
The too believing country maid?
Whose young and inexperienc'd years
From thee no evil purpose fears;
But yielding to love's gentle sway,
Knows not that lovers can betray,
How shall she curse deceiving men?
How shall she e'er believe again?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "conque" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1760).
See Poems on Several Occasions. By William Hamilton of Bangour, Esquire. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Gordon Bookseller in the Parliament Close, 1760). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems and Songs of William Hamilton of Bangour, ed. James Paterson (Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1850).
See Poems on Several Occasions. By William Hamilton of Bangour, Esquire. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Gordon Bookseller in the Parliament Close, 1760). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems and Songs of William Hamilton of Bangour, ed. James Paterson (Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson, 1850).
Date of Entry
02/10/2005
