"Is it not soul, weak, ignorant, and blind?"
— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by S. Richardson
Date
1758
Metaphor
"Is it not soul, weak, ignorant, and blind?"
Metaphor in Context
But ah! what means this impious pride,
Which heav'nly hosts deride?
Within MYSELF does Virtue dwell?
Is all serene and beauteous there?
What mean these chilling damps of fear?
Tell me, Philosophy! thou boaster! tell:
This godlike all-sufficient mind,
Which, in its own perfection blest,
Defies the woes or malice of mankind
To shake its self-possessing rest,
Is it not soul, weak, ignorant, and blind?
Oh man! from conscious Virtue's praise
Fall'n, fall'n!--what refuge can'st thou find?
What pitying hand again will raise
From native earth thy groveling frame?
Ah, who will cleanse thy heart from spot of sinful blame?
(pp. 186-7)
Which heav'nly hosts deride?
Within MYSELF does Virtue dwell?
Is all serene and beauteous there?
What mean these chilling damps of fear?
Tell me, Philosophy! thou boaster! tell:
This godlike all-sufficient mind,
Which, in its own perfection blest,
Defies the woes or malice of mankind
To shake its self-possessing rest,
Is it not soul, weak, ignorant, and blind?
Oh man! from conscious Virtue's praise
Fall'n, fall'n!--what refuge can'st thou find?
What pitying hand again will raise
From native earth thy groveling frame?
Ah, who will cleanse thy heart from spot of sinful blame?
(pp. 186-7)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Text from Hester Chapone, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, 3rd edition (London: Printed for E. and C. Dilly ... and J. Walter, 1777). <Link to 3rd edition in Google Books> <Link to version printed in Elizabeth Carter's translation of Epictetus, in Google Books>
Date of Entry
06/17/2011
