"And what is Reason? Be she thus defined: / Reason is upright stature in the soul."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"And what is Reason? Be she thus defined: / Reason is upright stature in the soul."
Metaphor in Context
To Faith and Virtue why so backward man?
From hence:--The Present strongly strikes us all;
The Future, faintly: can we, then, be men?
If men, Lorenzo! the reverse is right.
Reason is man's peculiar; Sense, the brute's.
The Present is the scanty realm of Sense;
The Future, Reason's empire unconfined:
On that expending all her godlike power,
She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there;
There builds her blessings; there expects her praise;
And nothing asks of Fortune or of men.
And what is Reason? Be she thus defined:
Reason is upright stature in the soul.
O! be a man;--and strive to be a god.
(ll. 1429-1442, p. 215 in CUP edition)
From hence:--The Present strongly strikes us all;
The Future, faintly: can we, then, be men?
If men, Lorenzo! the reverse is right.
Reason is man's peculiar; Sense, the brute's.
The Present is the scanty realm of Sense;
The Future, Reason's empire unconfined:
On that expending all her godlike power,
She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there;
There builds her blessings; there expects her praise;
And nothing asks of Fortune or of men.
And what is Reason? Be she thus defined:
Reason is upright stature in the soul.
O! be a man;--and strive to be a god.
(ll. 1429-1442, p. 215 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 Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).
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 Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).
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
06/12/2013
