"'I see a Horse, I'm sure thats true.' / I say the Devil a Horse see You; / You see a Horse's Image, lain / In Miniature upon your brain; / But what you take for fourteen hand, / Is less than half a grain of sand."
— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
A. R. Waller
Date
1907
Metaphor
"'I see a Horse, I'm sure thats true.' / I say the Devil a Horse see You; / You see a Horse's Image, lain / In Miniature upon your brain; / But what you take for fourteen hand, / Is less than half a grain of sand."
Metaphor in Context
For Instance, when You think you see a
Fair Woman, 'tis but her Idea
If You her real Lipps Salute
Or but their shade, will bear dispute.
Look there say You I see a Horse
Lord Sir how idly you discoarse?
I see a Horse, I'm sure that's true.
I say the Devil a Horse see You;
You see a Horses Image, lain
In Miniature upon your brain;
But what you take for fourteen hand,
Is less than half a grain of sand.
Things must be stated by their Nature;
The Less can't comprehend the greater.
Now if your Groom would n'er be Able
To gett old Crop into the Stable,
Unless pray Mind the Door at least
Was something larger than the beast:
The Fellow sure would never be
Devoid of Sence to that degree,
As to desire, much less to try,
To thrust his Nagg into your Eye.
(II, pp. 1016-7)
Fair Woman, 'tis but her Idea
If You her real Lipps Salute
Or but their shade, will bear dispute.
Look there say You I see a Horse
Lord Sir how idly you discoarse?
I see a Horse, I'm sure that's true.
I say the Devil a Horse see You;
You see a Horses Image, lain
In Miniature upon your brain;
But what you take for fourteen hand,
Is less than half a grain of sand.
Things must be stated by their Nature;
The Less can't comprehend the greater.
Now if your Groom would n'er be Able
To gett old Crop into the Stable,
Unless pray Mind the Door at least
Was something larger than the beast:
The Fellow sure would never be
Devoid of Sence to that degree,
As to desire, much less to try,
To thrust his Nagg into your Eye.
(II, pp. 1016-7)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Prior, Matthew, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior. Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Theme
Sense data
Date of Entry
01/05/2004
Date of Review
02/02/2012
