"That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers: / She bids us quit realities for dreams; / Safety and peace, for hazard and alarm: / That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers: / She bids us quit realities for dreams; / Safety and peace, for hazard and alarm: / That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul."
Metaphor in Context
"For what?" (thou say'st:) "to damp the joys of life?"
No; to give heart and substance to thy joys.
That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers:
She bids us quit realities for dreams;
Safety and peace, for hazard and alarm:
That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul,--
She bids Ambition quit its taken prize,
Spurn the luxuriant branch on which it sits,
Though bearing crowns, to spring at distant game,
And plunge in toils and dangers--for repose.
If hope precarious, and of things, when gain'd,
Of little moment, and as little stay,
Can sweeten toils and dangers into joys;
What, then, that hope, which nothing can defeat,
Our leave unask'd? Rich hope of boundless bliss!
Bliss past man's power to paint it; Time's, to close!
(ll. 1443-1458, pp. 215-6 in CUP edition)
No; to give heart and substance to thy joys.
That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers:
She bids us quit realities for dreams;
Safety and peace, for hazard and alarm:
That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul,--
She bids Ambition quit its taken prize,
Spurn the luxuriant branch on which it sits,
Though bearing crowns, to spring at distant game,
And plunge in toils and dangers--for repose.
If hope precarious, and of things, when gain'd,
Of little moment, and as little stay,
Can sweeten toils and dangers into joys;
What, then, that hope, which nothing can defeat,
Our leave unask'd? Rich hope of boundless bliss!
Bliss past man's power to paint it; Time's, to close!
(ll. 1443-1458, pp. 215-6 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
