"Thro' ev'ry tender tube they rove, / In finer spirits strike the brain; / Wind quick thro' ev'ry fibrous grove, / And seek, thro' pores, the heart again."
— Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1726, 1775
Metaphor
"Thro' ev'ry tender tube they rove, / In finer spirits strike the brain; / Wind quick thro' ev'ry fibrous grove, / And seek, thro' pores, the heart again."
Metaphor in Context
In Animalcules, muse, display
Spirits, of name unknown in song!
Reader, a kind attention pay,
Nor think an useful comment long.
Far less than mites, on mites they prey;
Minutest things may swarms contain:
When o'er your iv'ry teeth they stray,
Then throb your little nerves with pain.
Fluids, in drops, minutely swell;
These subtil beings each contains;
In the small sanguine globes they dwell,
Roll from the heart, and trace the veins.
Thro' ev'ry tender tube they rove,
In finer spirits strike the brain;
Wind quick thro' ev'ry fibrous grove,
And seek, thro' pores, the heart again.
If they with purer drops dilate,
And lodge where entity began,
They actuate with a genial heat,
And kindle into future man.
But when our lives are Nature's due,
Air, seas, nor fire, their frames dissolve;
They matter, thro' all forms pursue,
And oft to genial heats revolve.
(ll. 1-24)
Spirits, of name unknown in song!
Reader, a kind attention pay,
Nor think an useful comment long.
Far less than mites, on mites they prey;
Minutest things may swarms contain:
When o'er your iv'ry teeth they stray,
Then throb your little nerves with pain.
Fluids, in drops, minutely swell;
These subtil beings each contains;
In the small sanguine globes they dwell,
Roll from the heart, and trace the veins.
Thro' ev'ry tender tube they rove,
In finer spirits strike the brain;
Wind quick thro' ev'ry fibrous grove,
And seek, thro' pores, the heart again.
If they with purer drops dilate,
And lodge where entity began,
They actuate with a genial heat,
And kindle into future man.
But when our lives are Nature's due,
Air, seas, nor fire, their frames dissolve;
They matter, thro' all forms pursue,
And oft to genial heats revolve.
(ll. 1-24)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "animal" and "spirits" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Earliest publication may be in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands. Publish'd by Richard Savage, Son of the late Earl Rivers. (London: Printed for Samuel Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall, 1726). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Richard Savage, new edition, 2 vols. (London: T. Evans, 1777).
See also The Works of Richard Savage, Esq. Son of the Earl Rivers. With an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Evans, 1775), ii, pp. 152-3. <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Richard Savage, new edition, 2 vols. (London: T. Evans, 1777).
See also The Works of Richard Savage, Esq. Son of the Earl Rivers. With an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author, by Samuel Johnson, LL.D 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Evans, 1775), ii, pp. 152-3. <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
04/27/2012
