"All pow’rful Grace, exert thy gentle Sway, / And teach my rebel Passions to obey: / Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art / Regain my volatile inconstant Heart."
— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Rivington
Date
1762
Metaphor
"All pow’rful Grace, exert thy gentle Sway, / And teach my rebel Passions to obey: / Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art / Regain my volatile inconstant Heart."
Metaphor in Context
All pow’rful Grace, exert thy gentle Sway,
And teach my rebel Passions to obey:
Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art
Regain my volatile inconstant Heart.
Shall ev'ry high Resolve Devotion frames,
Be only lifeless Sounds and specious Names?
Or rather while thy Hopes and Fears controul,
In this still Hour each Motion of my Soul,
Secure it's safety by a sudden Doom,
And be the soft Retreat of Sleep my Tomb.
Calm let me slumber in that dark Repose,
'Till the last Morn its orient Beam disclose:
Then, when the great Archangel’s potent Sound,
Shall echo thro' Creation’s ample Round,
Wak'd from the Sleep of Death, with Joy survey
The op'ning Splendors of eternal Day.
(ll. 36-52, pp. 33-4)
And teach my rebel Passions to obey:
Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art
Regain my volatile inconstant Heart.
Shall ev'ry high Resolve Devotion frames,
Be only lifeless Sounds and specious Names?
Or rather while thy Hopes and Fears controul,
In this still Hour each Motion of my Soul,
Secure it's safety by a sudden Doom,
And be the soft Retreat of Sleep my Tomb.
Calm let me slumber in that dark Repose,
'Till the last Morn its orient Beam disclose:
Then, when the great Archangel’s potent Sound,
Shall echo thro' Creation’s ample Round,
Wak'd from the Sleep of Death, with Joy survey
The op'ning Splendors of eternal Day.
(ll. 36-52, pp. 33-4)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1762, 1766, 1776, 1777, 1789)
See Poems on Several Occasions. (London: Printed for John Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1762). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO><Link 2nd edition in Google Books>
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><Same edition in Internet Archive>
See Poems on Several Occasions. (London: Printed for John Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1762). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO><Link 2nd edition in Google Books>
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><Same edition in Internet Archive>
Date of Entry
06/23/2011
