"Strengthen'd by thee, this heart shall cease to melt / O'er ills that poor humanity must bear; / Nor friends estrang'd, or ties dissolv'd be felt / To leave regret, and fruitless anguish there."
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
J. Dodsley
Date
1786
Metaphor
"Strengthen'd by thee, this heart shall cease to melt / O'er ills that poor humanity must bear; / Nor friends estrang'd, or ties dissolv'd be felt / To leave regret, and fruitless anguish there."
Metaphor in Context
Sonnet XXXV.
To Fortitude
Nymph of the rock! whose dauntless spirit braves
The beating storm, and bitter winds that howl
Round thy cold breast; and hear'st the bursting waves,
And the deep thunder with unshaken soul;
Oh come!--and shew how vain the cares that press
On my weak bosom--and how little worth
Is the false fleeting meteor, happiness,
That still misleads the wanderers of the earth!
Strengthen'd by thee, this heart shall cease to melt
O'er ills that poor humanity must bear;
Nor friends estrang'd, or ties dissolv'd be felt
To leave regret, and fruitless anguish there:
And when at length it heaves its latest sigh,
Thou and mild hope, shall teach me how to die!
To Fortitude
Nymph of the rock! whose dauntless spirit braves
The beating storm, and bitter winds that howl
Round thy cold breast; and hear'st the bursting waves,
And the deep thunder with unshaken soul;
Oh come!--and shew how vain the cares that press
On my weak bosom--and how little worth
Is the false fleeting meteor, happiness,
That still misleads the wanderers of the earth!
Strengthen'd by thee, this heart shall cease to melt
O'er ills that poor humanity must bear;
Nor friends estrang'd, or ties dissolv'd be felt
To leave regret, and fruitless anguish there:
And when at length it heaves its latest sigh,
Thou and mild hope, shall teach me how to die!
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
