"In vain my fetter'd thoughts attempt to fly / And weakly fluttering mean the distant sky!"
— Steele, Anne (1717-1778)
Author
Place of Publication
Bristol
Publisher
printed by W. Pine. Sold by T. Cadell, T. Mills, and T. Evans; - and by J. Buckland and J. Johnson
Date
1780
Metaphor
"In vain my fetter'd thoughts attempt to fly / And weakly fluttering mean the distant sky!"
Metaphor in Context
Earth's fairest pleasures which allure my sight,
Are but the fleeting shadows of delight!
Shall airy phantoms thus my powers employ,
Powers that were form'd to grasp substantial joy?
Shall vanity enslave this freeborn mind,
And chains of sense my nobler passions bind?
Alas in vain I strive, in vain I sigh,
In vain my fetter'd thoughts attempt to fly
And weakly fluttering mean the distant sky!
(p. 90)
Are but the fleeting shadows of delight!
Shall airy phantoms thus my powers employ,
Powers that were form'd to grasp substantial joy?
Shall vanity enslave this freeborn mind,
And chains of sense my nobler passions bind?
Alas in vain I strive, in vain I sigh,
In vain my fetter'd thoughts attempt to fly
And weakly fluttering mean the distant sky!
(p. 90)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1780).
Anne Steele, Miscellaneous pieces, in Verse and Prose, by Theodosia, ed. Caleb Evans (Bristol: Printed by W. Pine. Sold by T. Cadell, T. Mills, and T. Evans; - and by J. Buckland and J. Johnson, 1780). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Anne Steele, Miscellaneous pieces, in Verse and Prose, by Theodosia, ed. Caleb Evans (Bristol: Printed by W. Pine. Sold by T. Cadell, T. Mills, and T. Evans; - and by J. Buckland and J. Johnson, 1780). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/19/2011
