"The good and evil of Eternity are too ponderous for the wings of wit; the mind sinks under them in passive helplessness, content with calm belief and humble adoration."
— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies
Date
1779, 1781
Metaphor
"The good and evil of Eternity are too ponderous for the wings of wit; the mind sinks under them in passive helplessness, content with calm belief and humble adoration."
Metaphor in Context
Pleasure and terrour are indeed the genuine sources of poetry; but poetical pleasure must be such as human imagination can at least conceive, and poetical terrour such as human strength and fortitude may combat. The good and evil of Eternity are too ponderous for the wings of wit; the mind sinks under them in passive helplessness, content with calm belief and humble adoration.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 3 entries in ESTC (1779, 1781, 1790). [vols. 1 to 5 dates 1779, vols. 5 to 10, 1781)
Samuel Johnson, Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, vol. 2 (London: Bathurst et al., 1779). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Jack Lynch's online edition, based on G. B. Hill's Lives of the English Poets, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905). <Link>
Samuel Johnson, Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, vol. 2 (London: Bathurst et al., 1779). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Jack Lynch's online edition, based on G. B. Hill's Lives of the English Poets, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905). <Link>
Date of Entry
03/04/2009
Date of Review
07/31/2009
