"Winter austere forbids me to aspire, / And northern tempests damp the rising fire; / They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing sea, / Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay."
— Wheatley, Phillis (c.1753-1784)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for A. Bell
Date
1773
Metaphor
"Winter austere forbids me to aspire, / And northern tempests damp the rising fire; / They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing sea, / Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay."
Metaphor in Context
Fancy might now her silken pinions try
To rise from earth, and sweep th' expanse on high;
From Tithon's bed now might Aurora rise,
Her cheeks all glowing with celestial dies,
While a pure stream of light o'erflows the skies.
The monarch of the day I might behold,
And all the mountains tipt with radiant gold,
But I reluctant leave the pleasing views,
Which Fancy dresses to delight the Muse;
Winter austere forbids me to aspire,
And northern tempests damp the rising fire;
They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing sea,
Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay.
(ll. 41-53)
To rise from earth, and sweep th' expanse on high;
From Tithon's bed now might Aurora rise,
Her cheeks all glowing with celestial dies,
While a pure stream of light o'erflows the skies.
The monarch of the day I might behold,
And all the mountains tipt with radiant gold,
But I reluctant leave the pleasing views,
Which Fancy dresses to delight the Muse;
Winter austere forbids me to aspire,
And northern tempests damp the rising fire;
They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing sea,
Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay.
(ll. 41-53)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 5 entries in ESTC (1773, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1793).
See Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. By Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England. (London: Printed for A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, 1773). <Link to ESTC>
Reading Vincent Carretta's Unchained Voices (Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2004): 62.
See Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. By Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England. (London: Printed for A. Bell, Bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, 1773). <Link to ESTC>
Reading Vincent Carretta's Unchained Voices (Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2004): 62.
Date of Entry
02/09/2011
