"The base controul / Of petty despots in their pedant reign / Already hast thou felt;--and high disdain / Of Tyrants is imprinted on thy soul."
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell, Junior, and W. Davies
Date
1797
Metaphor
"The base controul / Of petty despots in their pedant reign / Already hast thou felt;--and high disdain / Of Tyrants is imprinted on thy soul."
Metaphor in Context
Sonnet LXXVI.
To a Young Man Entering the World
Go now, ingenuous Youth!--The trying hour
Is come: The World demands that thou shouldst go
To active life: There titles, wealth and power
May all be purchas'd--Yet I joy to know
Thou wilt not pay their price. The base controul
Of petty despots in their pedant reign
Already hast thou felt;--and high disdain
Of Tyrants is imprinted on thy soul--
Not, where mistaken Glory, in the field
Rears her red banner, be thou ever found;
But, against proud Oppression raise the shield
Of Patriot daring--So shalt thou renown'd
For the best virtues live; or that denied
May'st die, as Hampden or as Sydney died!
To a Young Man Entering the World
Go now, ingenuous Youth!--The trying hour
Is come: The World demands that thou shouldst go
To active life: There titles, wealth and power
May all be purchas'd--Yet I joy to know
Thou wilt not pay their price. The base controul
Of petty despots in their pedant reign
Already hast thou felt;--and high disdain
Of Tyrants is imprinted on thy soul--
Not, where mistaken Glory, in the field
Rears her red banner, be thou ever found;
But, against proud Oppression raise the shield
Of Patriot daring--So shalt thou renown'd
For the best virtues live; or that denied
May'st die, as Hampden or as Sydney died!
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Reading and comparing The Poems of Charlotte Smith, ed. Stuart Curran (New York and Oxford: OUP, 1993).
Elegiac Sonnets, And Other Poems, By Charlotte Smith, 8th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Junior, and W. Davies, 1797). <Link to ECCO><Link to volume I in Google Books><volume II>
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.
Elegiac Sonnets, And Other Poems, By Charlotte Smith, 8th edition, 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, Junior, and W. Davies, 1797). <Link to ECCO><Link to volume I in Google Books><volume II>
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
