"Then gay Ideas crowd the vacant Brain, / While Peers and Dukes, and all their sweeping Train, / And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear, / And in soft sounds, Your Grace salutes their Ear."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Bernard Lintott
Date
1714 [1712, 1717]
Metaphor
"Then gay Ideas crowd the vacant Brain, / While Peers and Dukes, and all their sweeping Train, / And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear, / And in soft sounds, Your Grace salutes their Ear."
Metaphor in Context
Some Nymphs there are, too conscious of their Face,
For Life predestin'd to the Gnomes' Embrace.
Who swell their Prospects and exalt their Pride,
When Offers are disdain'd, and Love deny'd.
Then gay Ideas crowd the vacant Brain,
While Peers and Dukes, and all their sweeping Train,
And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear,
And in soft sounds, Your Grace salutes their Ear.
'Tis these that early taint the Female Soul,
Instruct the eyes of young Coquettes to roll,
Teach Infant Cheeks a bidden Blush to know,
And little Hearts to flutter at a Beau.
(p. 88, I, ll. 79-90)
For Life predestin'd to the Gnomes' Embrace.
Who swell their Prospects and exalt their Pride,
When Offers are disdain'd, and Love deny'd.
Then gay Ideas crowd the vacant Brain,
While Peers and Dukes, and all their sweeping Train,
And Garters, Stars, and Coronets appear,
And in soft sounds, Your Grace salutes their Ear.
'Tis these that early taint the Female Soul,
Instruct the eyes of young Coquettes to roll,
Teach Infant Cheeks a bidden Blush to know,
And little Hearts to flutter at a Beau.
(p. 88, I, ll. 79-90)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First published in 1712, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, in two cantos [reissued in 1714]. Five-Canto version in 1714, with additions in 1717. At least 26 entries in ESTC (1714, 1715, 1716, 1718, 1720, 1722, 1723, 1729, 1751, 1758, 1762, 1777, 1790, 1792, 1794, 1798, 1799, 1800).
The Rape of the Lock. An Heroi-Comical Poem. In Five Canto's. Written by Mr. Pope. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys in Fleetstreet, 1714). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
Poem complete in 1717: The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (London: Printed by W. Bowyer, for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear’s Head in the Strand, and Bernard Lintot between the Temple-Gates in Fleetstreet, 1717). <Link to ESTC>
Reading The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt (New Haven: Yale UP, 1963). Also, ed. Cynthia Wall, The Rape of the Lock (Boston and New York: Bedford Books, 1998).
The Rape of the Lock. An Heroi-Comical Poem. In Five Canto's. Written by Mr. Pope. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, at the Cross-Keys in Fleetstreet, 1714). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
Poem complete in 1717: The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (London: Printed by W. Bowyer, for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear’s Head in the Strand, and Bernard Lintot between the Temple-Gates in Fleetstreet, 1717). <Link to ESTC>
Reading The Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. John Butt (New Haven: Yale UP, 1963). Also, ed. Cynthia Wall, The Rape of the Lock (Boston and New York: Bedford Books, 1998).
Date of Entry
12/28/2009
