"Her pencil sickening Fancy throws away, / And weary Hope reclines upon the tomb."
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
J. Dodsley
Date
1786
Metaphor
"Her pencil sickening Fancy throws away, / And weary Hope reclines upon the tomb."
Metaphor in Context
Sonnet XXXVI.
Should the lone Wanderer, fainting on his way,
Rest for a moment of the sultry hours,
And tho' his path thro' thorns and roughness lay,
Pluck the wild rose, or woodbine's gadding flowers;
Weaving gay wreaths, beneath some sheltering tree,
The sense of sorrow, he awhile may lose;
So have I sought thy flowers, fair Poesy!
So charm'd my way, with Friendship and the Muse
But darker now grows life's unhappy day,
Dark, with new clouds of evil, yet to come,
Her pencil sickening Fancy throws away,
And weary Hope reclines upon the tomb;
And points my wishes to that tranquil shore,
Where the pale spectre Care, pursues no more.
Should the lone Wanderer, fainting on his way,
Rest for a moment of the sultry hours,
And tho' his path thro' thorns and roughness lay,
Pluck the wild rose, or woodbine's gadding flowers;
Weaving gay wreaths, beneath some sheltering tree,
The sense of sorrow, he awhile may lose;
So have I sought thy flowers, fair Poesy!
So charm'd my way, with Friendship and the Muse
But darker now grows life's unhappy day,
Dark, with new clouds of evil, yet to come,
Her pencil sickening Fancy throws away,
And weary Hope reclines upon the tomb;
And points my wishes to that tranquil shore,
Where the pale spectre Care, pursues no more.
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
