"'Tis fancy, powerful fancy wings / The poet's flight whene'er he sings, / Fancy strikes the living lyre, / Fancy sheds poetic fire!"
— Anonymous
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed for Richard Edward Mercier
Date
June, 1793
Metaphor
"'Tis fancy, powerful fancy wings / The poet's flight whene'er he sings, / Fancy strikes the living lyre, / Fancy sheds poetic fire!"
Metaphor in Context
What inspires the poet's song?
What bears his rapid tide along?
What assists his daring flight?
What directs his course aright?
Can Roman or can Grecian lore,
Can arts make mighty genius soar?
No--nature tells each generous heart,
That poesy's undeck'd by art;
Let critics, let pedantic fools,
Establish art and settle rules;
'Tis fancy, powerful fancy wings
The poet's flight whene'er he sings,
Fancy strikes the living lyre,
Fancy sheds poetic fire!
(pp. 402-3)
What bears his rapid tide along?
What assists his daring flight?
What directs his course aright?
Can Roman or can Grecian lore,
Can arts make mighty genius soar?
No--nature tells each generous heart,
That poesy's undeck'd by art;
Let critics, let pedantic fools,
Establish art and settle rules;
'Tis fancy, powerful fancy wings
The poet's flight whene'er he sings,
Fancy strikes the living lyre,
Fancy sheds poetic fire!
(pp. 402-3)
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>
Theme
Flights of Fancy
Date of Entry
10/06/2011
