"Reflect, before the fatal Ax / My threatned Doom has wrought: / Nor sacrifice to sensual Taste / The nobler Growth of Thought."
— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Rivington
Date
1762
Metaphor
"Reflect, before the fatal Ax / My threatned Doom has wrought: / Nor sacrifice to sensual Taste / The nobler Growth of Thought."
Metaphor in Context
In plaintive Notes, that tun'd to Woe
The sadly sighing Breeze,
A weeping Hamadryad mourn'd,
Her Fate-devoted Trees.
Ah! Stop thy sacrilegious Hand,
Nor violate the Shade,
Where Nature form'd a silent Haunt
For Contemplation's Aid.
Canst thou, the Son of Science, train'd
Where learned Isis flows,
Forget, that nurs'd in shelt'ring Groves
The Grecian Genius rose!
Beneath the Plantane's spreading Branch,
Immortal Plato taught:
And fair Lyceum form'd the Depth
Of Aristotle's Thought.
To Latian Groves reflect thy View,
And bless the Tuscan Gloom:
Where Eloquence deplor'd the Fate
Of Liberty and Rome.
Within the Beechen Shade retir'd,
From each inspiring Bough,
The Muses wove unfading Wreaths,
To circle Virgil's brow.
Reflect, before the fatal Ax
My threatned Doom has wrought:
Nor sacrifice to sensual Taste
The nobler Growth of Thought.
Not all the glowing Fruits, that blush
On India's sunny Coast,
Can recompense thee for the Worth
Of one Idea lost.
My shade a Produce may supply,
Unknown to solar Fire;
And what excludes Apollo's rays,
Shall harmonize his Lyre.
(pp. 40-1)
The sadly sighing Breeze,
A weeping Hamadryad mourn'd,
Her Fate-devoted Trees.
Ah! Stop thy sacrilegious Hand,
Nor violate the Shade,
Where Nature form'd a silent Haunt
For Contemplation's Aid.
Canst thou, the Son of Science, train'd
Where learned Isis flows,
Forget, that nurs'd in shelt'ring Groves
The Grecian Genius rose!
Beneath the Plantane's spreading Branch,
Immortal Plato taught:
And fair Lyceum form'd the Depth
Of Aristotle's Thought.
To Latian Groves reflect thy View,
And bless the Tuscan Gloom:
Where Eloquence deplor'd the Fate
Of Liberty and Rome.
Within the Beechen Shade retir'd,
From each inspiring Bough,
The Muses wove unfading Wreaths,
To circle Virgil's brow.
Reflect, before the fatal Ax
My threatned Doom has wrought:
Nor sacrifice to sensual Taste
The nobler Growth of Thought.
Not all the glowing Fruits, that blush
On India's sunny Coast,
Can recompense thee for the Worth
Of one Idea lost.
My shade a Produce may supply,
Unknown to solar Fire;
And what excludes Apollo's rays,
Shall harmonize his Lyre.
(pp. 40-1)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
In later editions "To Dr. Walwyn." 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
