"But let not these inexpiable strains / Condemn the Muse that knows her dignity; / Nor meanly stops at Time, but holds the world--/ As 'tis, in Nature's ample field, a point--/ A point in her esteem; from whence to start, / And run the round of universal space, / To visit being universal there, / And Being's Source, that utmost flight of mind!"
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
R. Dodsley
Date
1743
Metaphor
"But let not these inexpiable strains / Condemn the Muse that knows her dignity; / Nor meanly stops at Time, but holds the world--/ As 'tis, in Nature's ample field, a point--/ A point in her esteem; from whence to start, / And run the round of universal space, / To visit being universal there, / And Being's Source, that utmost flight of mind!"
Metaphor in Context
But let not these inexpiable strains
Condemn the Muse that knows her dignity;
Nor meanly stops at Time, but holds the world--
As 'tis, in Nature's ample field, a point--
A point in her esteem; from whence to start,
And run the round of universal space,
To visit being universal there,
And Being's Source, that utmost flight of mind!
Yet, spite of this so vast circumference,
Well knows, but what is moral, nought is great.
Sing sirens only? Do not angels sing?
There is in Poesy a decent pride,
Which well becomes her when she speaks to Prose,
Her younger sister; haply, not more wise.
(ll. 53-66, p. 118 in CUP edition)
Condemn the Muse that knows her dignity;
Nor meanly stops at Time, but holds the world--
As 'tis, in Nature's ample field, a point--
A point in her esteem; from whence to start,
And run the round of universal space,
To visit being universal there,
And Being's Source, that utmost flight of mind!
Yet, spite of this so vast circumference,
Well knows, but what is moral, nought is great.
Sing sirens only? Do not angels sing?
There is in Poesy a decent pride,
Which well becomes her when she speaks to Prose,
Her younger sister; haply, not more wise.
(ll. 53-66, p. 118 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).
See The Complaint. Or, Night-Thoughts on Life Death, & Immortality. Night the Fifth. (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 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).
See The Complaint. Or, Night-Thoughts on Life Death, & Immortality. Night the Fifth. (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 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
06/10/2013
