"Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose, / Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Bernard Lintott
Date
1714 [1712, 1717]
Metaphor
"Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose, / Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those."
Metaphor in Context
Not with more Glories, in th' Ethereal Plain,
The Sun first rises o'er the purpled Main,
Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams
Launch'd on the Bosom of the Silver Thames.
Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone,
But ev'ry Eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore.
Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose,
Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those:
Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends,
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike,
And, like the Sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride,
Might hide her Faults, if Belles had Faults to hide:
If to her share some Female Errors fall,
Look on her Face, and you'll forget 'em all.
(p. 223, II, ll. 1-18)
The Sun first rises o'er the purpled Main,
Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams
Launch'd on the Bosom of the Silver Thames.
Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone,
But ev'ry Eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore.
Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose,
Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those:
Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends,
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike,
And, like the Sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride,
Might hide her Faults, if Belles had Faults to hide:
If to her share some Female Errors fall,
Look on her Face, and you'll forget 'em all.
(p. 223, II, ll. 1-18)
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
