"O Master of the heart whose magic skill / The close recesses of the Soul can find."
— Edwards, Thomas (d. 1757)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for S. Richardson
Date
w. 1749, 1751
Metaphor
"O Master of the heart whose magic skill / The close recesses of the Soul can find."
Metaphor in Context
O Master of the heart! whose magic skill
The close recesses of the Soul can find,
Can rouse, becalm, and terrify the mind,
Now melt with pity, now with anguish thrill;
Thy moral page while virtuous precepts fill,
Warm from the heart, to mend the Age design'd,
Wit, strength, truth, decency, are all combin'd
To lead our Youth to Good, and guard from Ill.
O long enjoy what thou so well hast won,
The grateful tribute of each honest heart,
Sincere, nor hackney'd in the ways of men;
At each distressful stroke their true tears run;
And Nature, unsophisticate by Art,
Owns and applauds the labours of thy pen.
(ll. 1-14)
The close recesses of the Soul can find,
Can rouse, becalm, and terrify the mind,
Now melt with pity, now with anguish thrill;
Thy moral page while virtuous precepts fill,
Warm from the heart, to mend the Age design'd,
Wit, strength, truth, decency, are all combin'd
To lead our Youth to Good, and guard from Ill.
O long enjoy what thou so well hast won,
The grateful tribute of each honest heart,
Sincere, nor hackney'd in the ways of men;
At each distressful stroke their true tears run;
And Nature, unsophisticate by Art,
Owns and applauds the labours of thy pen.
(ll. 1-14)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Tita Chico's Designing women: the dressing room in eighteenth-century English literature (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2005), 188.
Citation
Text from Samuel Richardson, Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady, 3rd ed., vol. 1 of 8 (London: Printed for S. Richardson [etc.], 1783). <Link to ECCO>
See also Thomas Edwards, "Sonnet XXII" in The Canons of Criticism and Glossary; The Trial of the Letter Υ, alias Y, and Sonnets (London: Printed for C. Bathurst, 1765), 328. <Link to Google Books>
See also Thomas Edwards, "Sonnet XXII" in The Canons of Criticism and Glossary; The Trial of the Letter Υ, alias Y, and Sonnets (London: Printed for C. Bathurst, 1765), 328. <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
12/21/2011
