"What do we know of the unquiet pillow, / By the worn cheek and tearful eyelid prest, / When thoughts chase thoughts, like the tumultuous billow, / Whose very light and foam reveal unrest?"
— Landon, Laetitia Elizabeth [L.E.L.] (1802-1838)
Work Title
Date
1841
Metaphor
"What do we know of the unquiet pillow, / By the worn cheek and tearful eyelid prest, / When thoughts chase thoughts, like the tumultuous billow, / Whose very light and foam reveal unrest?"
Metaphor in Context
Was not this purchased all too dearly?--never
Can fame atone for all that fame hath cost.
We see the goal, but know not the endeavour,
Nor what fond hopes have on the way been lost.
What do we know of the unquiet pillow,
By the worn cheek and tearful eyelid prest,
When thoughts chase thoughts, like the tumultuous billow,
Whose very light and foam reveal unrest?
We say, the song is sorrowful, but know not
What may have left that sorrow on the song;
However mournful words may be, they show not
The whole extent of wretchedness and wrong.
They cannot paint the long sad hours, pass'd only
In vain regrets o'er what we feel we are.
Alas! the kingdom of the lute is lonely--
Cold is the worship coming from afar.
(p. 1334, ll. 29-44)
Can fame atone for all that fame hath cost.
We see the goal, but know not the endeavour,
Nor what fond hopes have on the way been lost.
What do we know of the unquiet pillow,
By the worn cheek and tearful eyelid prest,
When thoughts chase thoughts, like the tumultuous billow,
Whose very light and foam reveal unrest?
We say, the song is sorrowful, but know not
What may have left that sorrow on the song;
However mournful words may be, they show not
The whole extent of wretchedness and wrong.
They cannot paint the long sad hours, pass'd only
In vain regrets o'er what we feel we are.
Alas! the kingdom of the lute is lonely--
Cold is the worship coming from afar.
(p. 1334, ll. 29-44)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Perkins, David, ed. English Romantic Writers. 2nd ed. Harcourt Brace Publishers, 1995.
Theme
Tempest
Date of Entry
05/27/2008
