"Heav'ns! of how cynnical a Nature / The school-taught Race of ALMA MATER! / Who, of cramp'd Mind and clouded Brain / Bind GENIUS in a Gothic Chain."
— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Dodsley, Dilly, and Kearsley
Date
1785
Metaphor
"Heav'ns! of how cynnical a Nature / The school-taught Race of ALMA MATER! / Who, of cramp'd Mind and clouded Brain / Bind GENIUS in a Gothic Chain."
Metaphor in Context
Yet are there some can waste their whole Age
Amid the Dullness of a College;
Whom Reason and Goodsense deride;
The Sons of PEDANTRY and PRIDE!
Heav'ns! of how cynnical a Nature
The school-taught Race of ALMA MATER!
Who, of cramp'd Mind and clouded Brain
Bind GENIUS in a Gothic Chain;
Whose Learning only proves of Use
Reason to vitiate or traduce;
While dark SMIGLECIUS frowns away
Each unsophisticated Ray!
Yet such as these affect the Skies;
Too supercilious to be wise!
(16-17, ll. 253-66)
Amid the Dullness of a College;
Whom Reason and Goodsense deride;
The Sons of PEDANTRY and PRIDE!
Heav'ns! of how cynnical a Nature
The school-taught Race of ALMA MATER!
Who, of cramp'd Mind and clouded Brain
Bind GENIUS in a Gothic Chain;
Whose Learning only proves of Use
Reason to vitiate or traduce;
While dark SMIGLECIUS frowns away
Each unsophisticated Ray!
Yet such as these affect the Skies;
Too supercilious to be wise!
(16-17, ll. 253-66)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "chain" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Richard Polewhele, The Follies of Oxford: or Cursory Sketches on a University Education, from an Under Graduate, To His Friend in the Country (London: Printed for Dodsley, Dilly, and Kearsley, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/18/2011
