"Not death itself thine empire can destroy; / Towards thee, even then, we turn the languid eye; / Still trust in thee to bid our memory bloom, / And scatter roses round the silent tomb."
— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Author
Place of Publication
Chichester
Publisher
Printed by Dennett Jaques
Date
1784
Metaphor
"Not death itself thine empire can destroy; / Towards thee, even then, we turn the languid eye; / Still trust in thee to bid our memory bloom, / And scatter roses round the silent tomb."
Metaphor in Context
The faded beauty who with secret pain,
Sees younger charms usurp her envied reign,
By thee assisted, can with smiles behold
The record where her conquests are enrolled;
And dwelling yet on scenes by memory nurs'd,
When George the Second reign'd,or George the First;
She sees the shades of ancient beaux arise,
Who swear her eyes exceeded modern eyes,
When poets sung for her and lovers bled,
And giddy fashion follow'd as she led.
Departed modes appear in long array,
The flowers and flounces of her happier day,
Again her locks the decent fillets bind,
The waving lappet flutters in the wind,
And then comparing with a proud disdain
The more fantastic tastes that now obtain,
She deems ungraceful, trifling and absurd,
The gayer world that moves round George the Third.
Nor thy soft influence will the train refuse,
Who court in distant shades the modest Muse,
Tho' in a form more pure and more refin'd,
Thy soothing spirit meets the letter'd mind.
Not death itself thine empire can destroy;
Towards thee, even then, we turn the languid eye;
Still trust in thee to bid our memory bloom,
And scatter roses round the silent tomb.
(ll. 98-123)
Sees younger charms usurp her envied reign,
By thee assisted, can with smiles behold
The record where her conquests are enrolled;
And dwelling yet on scenes by memory nurs'd,
When George the Second reign'd,or George the First;
She sees the shades of ancient beaux arise,
Who swear her eyes exceeded modern eyes,
When poets sung for her and lovers bled,
And giddy fashion follow'd as she led.
Departed modes appear in long array,
The flowers and flounces of her happier day,
Again her locks the decent fillets bind,
The waving lappet flutters in the wind,
And then comparing with a proud disdain
The more fantastic tastes that now obtain,
She deems ungraceful, trifling and absurd,
The gayer world that moves round George the Third.
Nor thy soft influence will the train refuse,
Who court in distant shades the modest Muse,
Tho' in a form more pure and more refin'd,
Thy soothing spirit meets the letter'd mind.
Not death itself thine empire can destroy;
Towards thee, even then, we turn the languid eye;
Still trust in thee to bid our memory bloom,
And scatter roses round the silent tomb.
(ll. 98-123)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 15 entries in the ESTC (1784, 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).
Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays. By Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, In Sussex, 2nd edition (Chichester: Printed by Dennett Jaques, 1784). <Link to ECCO>
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).
Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays. By Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park, In Sussex, 2nd edition (Chichester: Printed by Dennett Jaques, 1784). <Link to ECCO>
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
