"Are passions, then, the Pagans of the soul? / Reason alone baptized? alone ordain'd / To touch things sacred?"
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
R. Dodsley
Date
1743
Metaphor
"Are passions, then, the Pagans of the soul? / Reason alone baptized? alone ordain'd / To touch things sacred?"
Metaphor in Context
Whom see I yonder so demurely smile?
Laughter a labour, and might break their rest.
Ye Quietists, in homage to the skies!
Serene, of soft address! who mildly make
An unobtrusive tender of your hearts,
Abhorring violence! who halt indeed;
But for the blessing wrestle not with Heaven!
Think you my song too turbulent, too warm?
Are passions, then, the Pagans of the soul?
Reason alone baptized? alone ordain'd
To touch things sacred? O for warmer still!
Guilt chills my zeal, and age benumbs my powers:
O for an humbler heart, and prouder song!
THOU, my much-injured theme! with that soft eye
Which melted o'er doom'd Salem, deign to look
Compassion to the coldness of my breast,
And pardon to the winter in my strain.
(ll. 621-637, pp. 106-7 in CUP edition)
Laughter a labour, and might break their rest.
Ye Quietists, in homage to the skies!
Serene, of soft address! who mildly make
An unobtrusive tender of your hearts,
Abhorring violence! who halt indeed;
But for the blessing wrestle not with Heaven!
Think you my song too turbulent, too warm?
Are passions, then, the Pagans of the soul?
Reason alone baptized? alone ordain'd
To touch things sacred? O for warmer still!
Guilt chills my zeal, and age benumbs my powers:
O for an humbler heart, and prouder song!
THOU, my much-injured theme! with that soft eye
Which melted o'er doom'd Salem, deign to look
Compassion to the coldness of my breast,
And pardon to the winter in my strain.
(ll. 621-637, pp. 106-7 in CUP edition)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).
Edward Young, Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph. Containing the Only Cure for the Fear of Death, and Proper Sentiments of Heart on that Inestimable Blessing. Humbly Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. York (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 1744 quarto in ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books> Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Edward Young, Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph. Containing the Only Cure for the Fear of Death, and Proper Sentiments of Heart on that Inestimable Blessing. Humbly Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. York (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 1744 quarto in ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books> Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/06/2013
