"Thou restless fluctuating Deep, / Expressive of the human Mind, / In thy for ever varying Form, / My own inconstant Self I find."
— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Rivington
Date
w. 1741, 1762
Metaphor
"Thou restless fluctuating Deep, / Expressive of the human Mind, / In thy for ever varying Form, / My own inconstant Self I find."
Metaphor in Context
WRITTEN EXTEMPORE ON THE SEA-SHORE
Thou restless fluctuating Deep,
Expressive of the human Mind,
In thy for ever varying Form,
My own inconstant Self I find.
How soft now flow thy peaceful Waves,
In just Gradations to the Shore:
While on thy Brow, unclouded shines
The Regent of the midnight Hour.
Blest Emblem of that equal State,
Which I this Moment feel within:
Where Thought to Thought succeeding rolls,
And all is placid and serene.
As o'er thy smoothly flowing Tide,
Their Light the trembling Moon-Beams dart,
My lov'd Eudocia's Image smiles,
And gayly brightens all my Heart.
But ah! this flatt'ring Scene of Peace,
By neither can be long possest,
When Eurus breaks thy transient Calm,
And rising Sorrows shake my Breast.
Obscur'd thy Cynthia's Silver Ray
When Clouds opposing intervene:
And ev'ry Joy that Friendship gives
Shall fade beneath the Gloom of Spleen.
(pp. 38-9)
Thou restless fluctuating Deep,
Expressive of the human Mind,
In thy for ever varying Form,
My own inconstant Self I find.
How soft now flow thy peaceful Waves,
In just Gradations to the Shore:
While on thy Brow, unclouded shines
The Regent of the midnight Hour.
Blest Emblem of that equal State,
Which I this Moment feel within:
Where Thought to Thought succeeding rolls,
And all is placid and serene.
As o'er thy smoothly flowing Tide,
Their Light the trembling Moon-Beams dart,
My lov'd Eudocia's Image smiles,
And gayly brightens all my Heart.
But ah! this flatt'ring Scene of Peace,
By neither can be long possest,
When Eurus breaks thy transient Calm,
And rising Sorrows shake my Breast.
Obscur'd thy Cynthia's Silver Ray
When Clouds opposing intervene:
And ev'ry Joy that Friendship gives
Shall fade beneath the Gloom of Spleen.
(pp. 38-9)
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
