"Make [her mind], as a garden gay, / Every bud of thought display, / Till, improving year by year, / The whole culture shall appear,"
— Philips, Ambrose (1674-1749)
Author
Date
1937
Metaphor
"Make [her mind], as a garden gay, / Every bud of thought display, / Till, improving year by year, / The whole culture shall appear,"
Metaphor in Context
Little charm of placid mien,
Miniature of beauty's queen,
Numbering years, a scanty nine,
Stealing hearts without design,
Young inveigler, fond in wiles,
Prone to mirth, profuse in smiles,
Yet a novice in disdain,
Pleasure giving without pain,
Still caressing, still caress'd,
Thou, and all thy lovers bless'd,
Never teiz'd, and never teizing,
O for ever pleas'd and pleasing!
Hither, British muse of mine,
Hither all the Grecian nine,
With the lovely graces three,
And your promis'd nurseling see:
Figure on her waxen mind
Images of life refin'd;
Make it, as a garden gay,
Every bud of thought display,
Till, improving year by year,
The whole culture shall appear,
Voice, and speech, and action, rising,
All to human sense surprising.
Is the silken web so thin
As the texture of her skin?
Can the lilly and the rose
Such unsully'd hue disclose?
Are the violets so blue
As her veins expos'd to view?
Do the stars, in wintry sky,
Twinkle brighter than her eye?
Has the morning lark a throat
Sounding sweeter than her note?
Whoe'er knew the like before thee?
They who knew the nymph that bore thee.
Miniature of beauty's queen,
Numbering years, a scanty nine,
Stealing hearts without design,
Young inveigler, fond in wiles,
Prone to mirth, profuse in smiles,
Yet a novice in disdain,
Pleasure giving without pain,
Still caressing, still caress'd,
Thou, and all thy lovers bless'd,
Never teiz'd, and never teizing,
O for ever pleas'd and pleasing!
Hither, British muse of mine,
Hither all the Grecian nine,
With the lovely graces three,
And your promis'd nurseling see:
Figure on her waxen mind
Images of life refin'd;
Make it, as a garden gay,
Every bud of thought display,
Till, improving year by year,
The whole culture shall appear,
Voice, and speech, and action, rising,
All to human sense surprising.
Is the silken web so thin
As the texture of her skin?
Can the lilly and the rose
Such unsully'd hue disclose?
Are the violets so blue
As her veins expos'd to view?
Do the stars, in wintry sky,
Twinkle brighter than her eye?
Has the morning lark a throat
Sounding sweeter than her note?
Whoe'er knew the like before thee?
They who knew the nymph that bore thee.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
03/27/2005
Date of Review
06/26/2007
