"I stood / Among them, but not of them--in a shroud / Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could, / Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued."
— Byron, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824)
Date
1816
Metaphor
"I stood / Among them, but not of them--in a shroud / Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could, / Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued."
Metaphor in Context
I have not loved the World, nor the World me;
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed
To its idolatries a patient knee,
Nor coined my cheek to smiles,--nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo: in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such--I stood
Among them, but not of them--in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.
(p. 872, ll. 1049-1057)
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed
To its idolatries a patient knee,
Nor coined my cheek to smiles,--nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo: in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such--I stood
Among them, but not of them--in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.
(p. 872, ll. 1049-1057)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in Perkins. Text from HDIS.
Citation
Perkins, David, ed. English Romantic Writers. 2nd ed. Harcourt Brace Publishers, 1995.
Date of Entry
05/27/2008
Date of Review
12/03/2008
