"Oh thou! to save whose peace I now depart, / Will thy soft mind, thy poor lost friend deplore, / When worms shall feed on this devoted heart, / Where even thy image shall be found no more / Yet may thy pity mingle not with pain, / For then thy hapless lover--dies in vain!"
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
J. Dodsley
Date
1786
Metaphor
"Oh thou! to save whose peace I now depart, / Will thy soft mind, thy poor lost friend deplore, / When worms shall feed on this devoted heart, / Where even thy image shall be found no more / Yet may thy pity mingle not with pain, / For then thy hapless lover--dies in vain!"
Metaphor in Context
Sonnet XXV.
By the Same. Just Before his Death
Why should I wish to hold in this low sphere
'A frail and feverish being?' wherefore try
Poorly from day to day to linger here,
Against the powerful hand of destiny?
By those who know the force of hopeless care,
On the worn heart--I sure shall be forgiven,
If to elude dark gilt, and dire despair,
I go uncall'd--to mercy and to Heaven!
Oh thou! to save whose peace I now depart,
Will thy soft mind, thy poor lost friend deplore,
When worms shall feed on this devoted heart,
Where even thy image shall be found no more
Yet may thy pity mingle not with pain,
For then thy hapless lover--dies in vain!
By the Same. Just Before his Death
Why should I wish to hold in this low sphere
'A frail and feverish being?' wherefore try
Poorly from day to day to linger here,
Against the powerful hand of destiny?
By those who know the force of hopeless care,
On the worn heart--I sure shall be forgiven,
If to elude dark gilt, and dire despair,
I go uncall'd--to mercy and to Heaven!
Oh thou! to save whose peace I now depart,
Will thy soft mind, thy poor lost friend deplore,
When worms shall feed on this devoted heart,
Where even thy image shall be found no more
Yet may thy pity mingle not with pain,
For then thy hapless lover--dies in vain!
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 13 entries in the ESTC (1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1792, 1795, 1797, 1800).
Text drawn and corrected from OCR of 1789 edition in Google Books. Reading and comparing The Poems of Charlotte Smith, ed. Stuart Curran (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993).
See Elegiac Sonnets by Charlotte Smith. 4th ed, corr. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, H. Gardner, and J. Bew, 1786).
See also Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, by Charlotte Smith, 9th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1800). <Link to volume I in Google Books> <Link to volume II in ECCO> -- Note, Curran uses this edition as his base text for Sonnets 1 through 59.
Text drawn and corrected from OCR of 1789 edition in Google Books. Reading and comparing The Poems of Charlotte Smith, ed. Stuart Curran (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993).
See Elegiac Sonnets by Charlotte Smith. 4th ed, corr. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, H. Gardner, and J. Bew, 1786).
See also Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems, by Charlotte Smith, 9th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1800). <Link to volume I in Google Books> <Link to volume II in ECCO> -- Note, Curran uses this edition as his base text for Sonnets 1 through 59.
Date of Entry
06/13/2013
