"FANCY, sportive goddess, hail! / Fleeting as the vernal gale, / Hail! thou dear illusive power / Changing with the swift-wing'd hour; / Now despairing, now reviving, / Now with tenfold vigour thriving, / Now tormenting, now delighting, / Now in midst of battle fighting."
— Anonymous
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed for Richard Edward Mercier
Date
June, 1793
Metaphor
"FANCY, sportive goddess, hail! / Fleeting as the vernal gale, / Hail! thou dear illusive power / Changing with the swift-wing'd hour; / Now despairing, now reviving, / Now with tenfold vigour thriving, / Now tormenting, now delighting, / Now in midst of battle fighting."
Metaphor in Context
FANCY, sportive goddess, hail!
Fleeting as the vernal gale,
Hail! thou dear illusive power
Changing with the swift-wing'd hour;
Now despairing, now reviving,
Now with tenfold vigour thriving,
Now tormenting, now delighting,
Now in midst of battle fighting:
'Tis thine, or to depress or raise
Whilst short-sighted mortals gaze,---
Gaze, at veil'd futurity
Actuated but by thee---
Fancy, place me by the shore,
Where the broken surges roar,
Where old ocean, Terra laves,
With his ever-rolling waves;
In yonder forest's dusky gloom,
Next my vision'd soul entomb;
Near yon mouldering castle's walls
Where the solemn screech-owl squalls,
Where the bat essays his flight,
In the solitary night;---
Then in yonder shady grove,
Let me taste the sweets of love;
Let me visit woven bowers,
Graced with variegated flowers;
The woodbine and the jasmine gay,
With all the various sweets of May.
(pp. 462)
Fleeting as the vernal gale,
Hail! thou dear illusive power
Changing with the swift-wing'd hour;
Now despairing, now reviving,
Now with tenfold vigour thriving,
Now tormenting, now delighting,
Now in midst of battle fighting:
'Tis thine, or to depress or raise
Whilst short-sighted mortals gaze,---
Gaze, at veil'd futurity
Actuated but by thee---
Fancy, place me by the shore,
Where the broken surges roar,
Where old ocean, Terra laves,
With his ever-rolling waves;
In yonder forest's dusky gloom,
Next my vision'd soul entomb;
Near yon mouldering castle's walls
Where the solemn screech-owl squalls,
Where the bat essays his flight,
In the solitary night;---
Then in yonder shady grove,
Let me taste the sweets of love;
Let me visit woven bowers,
Graced with variegated flowers;
The woodbine and the jasmine gay,
With all the various sweets of May.
(pp. 462)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1793, 1794).
See Anthologia Hibernica: or Monthly Collections of Science, Belles-lettres, and History, vol i, (Dublin: Printed for Richard Edward Mercier, 1793). <Link to Google Books>
See Anthologia Hibernica: or Monthly Collections of Science, Belles-lettres, and History, vol i, (Dublin: Printed for Richard Edward Mercier, 1793). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
10/06/2011
