"Had Eve possessed a soul like sand, / Without a taint of aught decayed, / Unfructifiable as land / Whereon no herbs nor forests fade, // Then her Betrayer would have sought / An acquiescent ear in vain."
— Money-Coutts, Francis Burdett Thomas, 5th Lord Latimer (1852-1923)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London and New York
Publisher
John Lane: The Bodley Head
Date
1900
Metaphor
"Had Eve possessed a soul like sand, /
Without a taint of aught decayed, /
Unfructifiable as land /
Whereon no herbs nor forests fade, //
Then her Betrayer would have sought /
An acquiescent ear in vain."
Metaphor in Context
And hearts responsive to the sound
Insidious, of persuasive sin,
Must carry, like the garden-ground,
A welcome for what grows therein.
Had Eve possessed a soul like sand,
Without a taint of aught decayed,
Unfructifiable as land
Whereon no herbs nor forests fade,
Then her Betrayer would have sought
An acquiescent ear in vain,
And all his careful tillage wrought
No germination of the grain.
Whence came that weed-receptive soil
That grants the tare such easy root,
And grows, for bread and wine and oil,
The blighted grain and cankered fruit?
(pp. 40-2)
Insidious, of persuasive sin,
Must carry, like the garden-ground,
A welcome for what grows therein.
Had Eve possessed a soul like sand,
Without a taint of aught decayed,
Unfructifiable as land
Whereon no herbs nor forests fade,
Then her Betrayer would have sought
An acquiescent ear in vain,
And all his careful tillage wrought
No germination of the grain.
Whence came that weed-receptive soil
That grants the tare such easy root,
And grows, for bread and wine and oil,
The blighted grain and cankered fruit?
(pp. 40-2)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Edition on Google Books: Link.
Date of Entry
12/23/2007
