"As running Streams their parted Waters spread / Adown the hill or thrô the flow'ry Mead / Here rising bold and Turbulent in waves / There sunk in Sand or sunk in Rocky Caves / The human Eye may still collect and bring / To their first Murmur and Original spring: / So from the various action of our mind. "
— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
w. 1721
Metaphor
"As running Streams their parted Waters spread / Adown the hill or thrô the flow'ry Mead / Here rising bold and Turbulent in waves / There sunk in Sand or sunk in Rocky Caves / The human Eye may still collect and bring / To their first Murmur and Original spring: /
So from the various action of our mind. "
Metaphor in Context
If God who gave the freedom form'd the Will
To form it and incline it was the same
You grant the thing while you dispute the Name.
As running Streams their parted Waters spread
Adown the hill or thrô the flow'ry Mead
Here rising bold and Turbulent in waves
There sunk in Sand or sunk in Rocky Caves
The human Eye may still collect and bring
To their first Murmur and Original spring:
So from the various action of our mind
To pleasure better or to grief enclin'd
Glitt'ring in Courts and shining bright in Arms
Fond of Mans praises & of Womans charms
Or flying Crowds desiring more to dwel
In the thick Woods or Melancholy Cell.
Pursue this Search to its Original:
Allowing Heav'ns Decree and Adams fall
A new Alliance and firm Covenant made
By God to be requir'd, by Man Obey'd:
(ll. 262-280)
[Compare published version of the poem: "So rolling down the Rocks the waters bring / The tast and hue of their original spring; / So from our Will, that Fountain of our Deed, / The stains and Colours of our Acts proceed" (ll. 196-99, pp. 564-5).]
To form it and incline it was the same
You grant the thing while you dispute the Name.
As running Streams their parted Waters spread
Adown the hill or thrô the flow'ry Mead
Here rising bold and Turbulent in waves
There sunk in Sand or sunk in Rocky Caves
The human Eye may still collect and bring
To their first Murmur and Original spring:
So from the various action of our mind
To pleasure better or to grief enclin'd
Glitt'ring in Courts and shining bright in Arms
Fond of Mans praises & of Womans charms
Or flying Crowds desiring more to dwel
In the thick Woods or Melancholy Cell.
Pursue this Search to its Original:
Allowing Heav'ns Decree and Adams fall
A new Alliance and firm Covenant made
By God to be requir'd, by Man Obey'd:
(ll. 262-280)
[Compare published version of the poem: "So rolling down the Rocks the waters bring / The tast and hue of their original spring; / So from our Will, that Fountain of our Deed, / The stains and Colours of our Acts proceed" (ll. 196-99, pp. 564-5).]
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, eds. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition. (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1971).
Theme
Stream of Consciouness
Date of Entry
02/25/2004
