"O'er crabbed authors life's gay prime to waste, / To clamp wild genius in the chains of taste, / To bear the slavish drudgery of schools, / And tamely stoop to ev'ry pedant's rules."
— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Flexney
Date
1763
Metaphor
"O'er crabbed authors life's gay prime to waste, / To clamp wild genius in the chains of taste, / To bear the slavish drudgery of schools, / And tamely stoop to ev'ry pedant's rules."
Metaphor in Context
O'er crabbed authors life's gay prime to waste,
To clamp wild genius in the chains of taste,
To bear the slavish drudgery of schools,
And tamely stoop to ev'ry pedant's rules;
For seven long years debarr'd of liberal ease,
To plod in college trammels to degrees;
Beneath the weight of solemn toys to groan,
Sleep over books, and leave mankind unknown;
To praise each senior blockhead's thread-bare tale,
And laugh till reason blush, and spirits fail;
Manhood with vile submission to disgrace,
And cap the fool, whose merit is his Place,
VICE-CHANCELLORS, whose knowledge is but small,
And CHANCELLORS, who nothing know at all,
Ill-brook'd the generous Spirit in those days
When Learning was the certain road to praise,
When Nobles, with a love of Science bless'd,
Approved in others what themselves possess'd.
(p. 2)
To clamp wild genius in the chains of taste,
To bear the slavish drudgery of schools,
And tamely stoop to ev'ry pedant's rules;
For seven long years debarr'd of liberal ease,
To plod in college trammels to degrees;
Beneath the weight of solemn toys to groan,
Sleep over books, and leave mankind unknown;
To praise each senior blockhead's thread-bare tale,
And laugh till reason blush, and spirits fail;
Manhood with vile submission to disgrace,
And cap the fool, whose merit is his Place,
VICE-CHANCELLORS, whose knowledge is but small,
And CHANCELLORS, who nothing know at all,
Ill-brook'd the generous Spirit in those days
When Learning was the certain road to praise,
When Nobles, with a love of Science bless'd,
Approved in others what themselves possess'd.
(p. 2)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "trammels" in HDIS (Poetry); text reconciled with first edition in Google Books
Citation
Charles Churchill, The Author (London: Printed for W. Flexney, 1763). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
09/06/2011
