"Behold an emblem of our human mind / Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home, / Yet, like to eddying balls of foam / Within this whirlpool, they each other chase / Round and round, and neither find / An outlet nor a resting-place!"

— Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Edward Moxon
Date
1850
Metaphor
"Behold an emblem of our human mind / Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home, / Yet, like to eddying balls of foam / Within this whirlpool, they each other chase / Round and round, and neither find / An outlet nor a resting-place!"
Metaphor in Context
Behold an emblem of our human mind
Crowded with thoughts that need a settled home,
Yet, like to eddying balls of foam
Within this whirlpool, they each other chase
Round and round, and neither find
An outlet nor a resting-place!

Stranger, if such disquietude be thine,
Fall on thy knees and sue for help divine.
Provenance
Searching "ball" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
William Wordsworth, Poetical Works 6 vols. (London: Moxon, 1849-50).
Theme
Stream of Consciousness
Date of Entry
09/13/2011

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.