"For what the Bark is to the growing Tree, / To human Mind, that, Patience seems to be; / They hold the Principles of Growth together, / And blunt the Force of Accident, and Weather."
— Byrom, John (1692-1763)
Author
Place of Publication
Manchester
Publisher
J. Harrop
Date
1773, 1894-1895
Metaphor
"For what the Bark is to the growing Tree, / To human Mind, that, Patience seems to be; / They hold the Principles of Growth together, / And blunt the Force of Accident, and Weather."
Metaphor in Context
O what a deal he said! and in the Light,
Wherein he plac'd it, all was really right:
But like good Doctrine, of some good Divine,
Which, while 'tis preach'd, is admirably fine,
When Doctor Gratitude had left the Spot,
All that he said was charming and forgot.
Your Doctor's Potion, Patience, and the Bark,
May hit both mental, and material Mark;
One serves to keep the Ague from the Mind,
As t'other does, from its corporeal Rind:
There is, methinks, in their respective Growth,
A fair Analogy betwixt 'em both.
For what the Bark is to the growing Tree,
To human Mind, that, Patience seems to be;
They hold the Principles of Growth together,
And blunt the Force of Accident, and Weather:
Bar'd of its Bark, a Tree, we may compute,
Will not remain much longer on its Root.
And Mind in Mortals, that are wisely will'd,
Will hardly bear to have its Patience peel'd:
Nothing, in fine, contributes more to Living,
Physic, or Food, than Patience and Thanksgiving;
Patience defends us from all outward Hap;
Of inward Life Thanksgiving is the Sap.
(p. 98)
Wherein he plac'd it, all was really right:
But like good Doctrine, of some good Divine,
Which, while 'tis preach'd, is admirably fine,
When Doctor Gratitude had left the Spot,
All that he said was charming and forgot.
Your Doctor's Potion, Patience, and the Bark,
May hit both mental, and material Mark;
One serves to keep the Ague from the Mind,
As t'other does, from its corporeal Rind:
There is, methinks, in their respective Growth,
A fair Analogy betwixt 'em both.
For what the Bark is to the growing Tree,
To human Mind, that, Patience seems to be;
They hold the Principles of Growth together,
And blunt the Force of Accident, and Weather:
Bar'd of its Bark, a Tree, we may compute,
Will not remain much longer on its Root.
And Mind in Mortals, that are wisely will'd,
Will hardly bear to have its Patience peel'd:
Nothing, in fine, contributes more to Living,
Physic, or Food, than Patience and Thanksgiving;
Patience defends us from all outward Hap;
Of inward Life Thanksgiving is the Sap.
(p. 98)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in Google Books
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1773).
See Miscellaneous Poems, by John Byrom, M.A. F.R.S. sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Inventor of the Universal English Short-Hand. In Two Volumes. (Manchester: Printed by J. Harrop, 1773). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Poems of John Byrom, ed. Adolphus William Ward, 2 vols. (Manchester: Printed for The Chetham Society, 1894-1895).
See Miscellaneous Poems, by John Byrom, M.A. F.R.S. sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Inventor of the Universal English Short-Hand. In Two Volumes. (Manchester: Printed by J. Harrop, 1773). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Poems of John Byrom, ed. Adolphus William Ward, 2 vols. (Manchester: Printed for The Chetham Society, 1894-1895).
Date of Entry
03/12/2012
