"Now take a Simile at Hand, / Compare the mental Soil to Land."
— Cotton, Nathaniel, the elder (1705-1788)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley
Date
1751, 1791
Metaphor
"Now take a Simile at Hand, / Compare the mental Soil to Land."
Metaphor in Context
Now take a Simile at Hand,
Compare the mental Soil to Land.
Shall Fields be till'd with annual Care,
And minds lie Fallow ev'ry Year?
O! since the Crop depends on You,
Give them the Culture which is due:
Hoe every Weed, and dress the Soil,
So Harvest shall repay your toil.
If Human Minds resemble Trees,
(As every Moralist agrees)
Prune all the Straglers of your Vine,
Then shall the purple Clusters shine.
The Gard'ner knows, that fruitful Life
Demands his salutary Knife:
For every wild luxuriant Shoot
Or robs the Bloom, or starves the Fruit.
(p. 22; cf. p. 24 in 1751 ed.)
Compare the mental Soil to Land.
Shall Fields be till'd with annual Care,
And minds lie Fallow ev'ry Year?
O! since the Crop depends on You,
Give them the Culture which is due:
Hoe every Weed, and dress the Soil,
So Harvest shall repay your toil.
If Human Minds resemble Trees,
(As every Moralist agrees)
Prune all the Straglers of your Vine,
Then shall the purple Clusters shine.
The Gard'ner knows, that fruitful Life
Demands his salutary Knife:
For every wild luxuriant Shoot
Or robs the Bloom, or starves the Fruit.
(p. 22; cf. p. 24 in 1751 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Contributed by PC Fleming, searching "mind."
Citation
At least 20 entries in ESTC (1751, 1752, 1753, 1755, 1760, 1767, 1771, 1776, 1781, 1782, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1794, 1798).
Text from Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols. (London: J. Dodsley, 1791). <Link to Google Books>
See also Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, for the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. 2nd edition (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and Sold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition>
See also Visions in Verse: For the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. A New Edition. (London: J. Dodsley, 1790). <Link to Google Books>
The revised and enlarged 3rd edition adds a new, ninth vision: "Death. Vision the Last"
Text from Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols. (London: J. Dodsley, 1791). <Link to Google Books>
See also Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, for the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. 2nd edition (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and Sold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition>
See also Visions in Verse: For the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. A New Edition. (London: J. Dodsley, 1790). <Link to Google Books>
The revised and enlarged 3rd edition adds a new, ninth vision: "Death. Vision the Last"
Date of Entry
07/10/2010
