"Protect me by thy providential Care, / And teach my Soul t'avoid the Tempter's Snare."
— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Edward Cave
Date
1738
Metaphor
"Protect me by thy providential Care, / And teach my Soul t'avoid the Tempter's Snare."
Metaphor in Context
Grant me, great God, a Heart to thee inclin'd;
Increase my Faith, and rectify my Mind.
Teach me betimes to tread thy sacred Ways,
And to thy Service consecrate my Days.
Still as through Life's uncertain Maze I stray,
Be thou the guiding Star to mark my Way.
Conduct the Steps of my unguarded Youth,
And point their Motions to the Paths of Truth.
Protect me by thy providential Care,
And teach my Soul t'avoid the Tempter's Snare.
Through all the varied scenes of human Life,
In Calms of Ease, or blustring Storms of Grief;
Through every Turn of this inconstant State,
Preserve my Temper equal and sedate.
Give me a Mind that bravely dares despise
The low Designs and Artifice of vice.
(ll. 25-40, pp. 5)
Increase my Faith, and rectify my Mind.
Teach me betimes to tread thy sacred Ways,
And to thy Service consecrate my Days.
Still as through Life's uncertain Maze I stray,
Be thou the guiding Star to mark my Way.
Conduct the Steps of my unguarded Youth,
And point their Motions to the Paths of Truth.
Protect me by thy providential Care,
And teach my Soul t'avoid the Tempter's Snare.
Through all the varied scenes of human Life,
In Calms of Ease, or blustring Storms of Grief;
Through every Turn of this inconstant State,
Preserve my Temper equal and sedate.
Give me a Mind that bravely dares despise
The low Designs and Artifice of vice.
(ll. 25-40, pp. 5)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Elizabeth Carter, Poems on Particular Occasions (London, 1738). <Link to ECCO>
See also Elizabeth Carter, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, with a New Edition of her Poems, Ed. Montagu Pennington, 2 vols. (London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1816). <Link to WWO><Link to Internet Archive>
See also Elizabeth Carter, Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, with a New Edition of her Poems, Ed. Montagu Pennington, 2 vols. (London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1816). <Link to WWO><Link to Internet Archive>
Date of Entry
06/23/2011
