"Loos'd from ye chains of flesh his freer mind / Rose up to sacred love, / To perfect saint or seraphim refin'd, / Quitting his lump of clay, / As subtle spirits fume away / Loos'd from their earth they upward mount, they flye, / They light, they shine, & blaze along the skye."
— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)
Author
Date
w. 1702-1713
Metaphor
"Loos'd from ye chains of flesh his freer mind / Rose up to sacred love, / To perfect saint or seraphim refin'd, / Quitting his lump of clay, / As subtle spirits fume away / Loos'd from their earth they upward mount, they flye, / They light, they shine, & blaze along the skye."
Metaphor in Context
&nbps; Curst be the Hour, ye Day, ye Year,
Curst ye disease that ravish'd hence or. seer,
&nbps; Whose sacrilegious dart cou'd show,
That one so good was not immortall too;
&nbps; Yet wt. alas can this avail?
&nbps; Why all this mad distemper'd Zeal
As wt it did were the effects of chance,
&nbps; & not of providence.
No the impatient heavens thought long to want
&nbps; In their blest choirs so true a saint,
And sent a ministring sickness from above,
&nbps; his earthy fetters to remove.
&nbps; &nbps; It came ye call he knew,
&nbps; & streight obey'd & streight wthdrew,
Loos'd from ye chains of flesh his freer mind
&nbps; &nbps; &nbps; Rose up to sacred love,
&nbps; To perfect saint or seraphim refin'd,
&nbps; &nbps; Quitting his lump of clay,
&nbps; &nbps; As subtle spirits fume away
Loos'd from their earth they upward mount, they flye,
&nbps; They light, they shine, & blaze along the skye.
(ll. 53-73, p. 348)
Curst ye disease that ravish'd hence or. seer,
&nbps; Whose sacrilegious dart cou'd show,
That one so good was not immortall too;
&nbps; Yet wt. alas can this avail?
&nbps; Why all this mad distemper'd Zeal
As wt it did were the effects of chance,
&nbps; & not of providence.
No the impatient heavens thought long to want
&nbps; In their blest choirs so true a saint,
And sent a ministring sickness from above,
&nbps; his earthy fetters to remove.
&nbps; &nbps; It came ye call he knew,
&nbps; & streight obey'd & streight wthdrew,
Loos'd from ye chains of flesh his freer mind
&nbps; &nbps; &nbps; Rose up to sacred love,
&nbps; To perfect saint or seraphim refin'd,
&nbps; &nbps; Quitting his lump of clay,
&nbps; &nbps; As subtle spirits fume away
Loos'd from their earth they upward mount, they flye,
&nbps; They light, they shine, & blaze along the skye.
(ll. 53-73, p. 348)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "chain" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Thomas Parnell, "On Dr. Brown's Death," from Collected Poems of Thomas Parnell. Eds. Claude Julien Rawson and F. P. Lock (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1989), 346-8.
Date of Entry
07/18/2011
