"But if doom'd, / In powerless humble fortune, to repress / These ardent risings of the kindling soul; / Then, even superior to ambition, we / Would learn the private virtues."
— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Author
Work Title
Date
1730
Metaphor
"But if doom'd, / In powerless humble fortune, to repress / These ardent risings of the kindling soul; / Then, even superior to ambition, we / Would learn the private virtues."
Metaphor in Context
Thus in some deep retirement would I pass
The winter-glooms, with friends of various turn,
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd:
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame
Of nature rose from unproductive night,
Or sprung eternal from th' Eternal Cause;
Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole
Would gradual open on our opening minds;
And each diffusive harmony unite,
In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye.
Thence would we plunge into the moral world;
Which, though seemingly more perplex'd, moves on
In higher order; fitted and impell'd
By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all
In universal good. Historic truth
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:
Point us how empire grew, revolv'd, and fell,
In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile,
Improves their soil, and gives them double suns;
And why they pine beneath the brightest skies,
In nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale
That portion of divinity, that ray
Of purest Heaven, which lights the glorious flame
Of patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd,
In powerless humble fortune, to repress
These ardent risings of the kindling soul;
Then, even superior to ambition, we
Would learn the private virtues; how to glide
Through shades and plains, along the smoothest stream
Of rural life: or snatch'd away by hope,
Through the dim spaces of futurity,
With earnest eye anticipate those scenes
Of happiness and wonder; where the mind,
In endless growth and infinite ascent,
Rises from state to state, and world to world.
And when with these the serious thought is foil'd,
We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes
Of frolic fancy; and incessant form
Unnumber'd pictures, fleeting o'er the brain
Yet rapid still renew'd, and pour'd immense
Into the mind, unbounded without space:
The great, the new, the beautiful; or mix'd,
Burlesque, and odd, the risible and gay;
Whence vivid Wit and Humour, droll of face,
Call Laughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve.
(ll. 568-614)
The winter-glooms, with friends of various turn,
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd:
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame
Of nature rose from unproductive night,
Or sprung eternal from th' Eternal Cause;
Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole
Would gradual open on our opening minds;
And each diffusive harmony unite,
In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye.
Thence would we plunge into the moral world;
Which, though seemingly more perplex'd, moves on
In higher order; fitted and impell'd
By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all
In universal good. Historic truth
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:
Point us how empire grew, revolv'd, and fell,
In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile,
Improves their soil, and gives them double suns;
And why they pine beneath the brightest skies,
In nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale
That portion of divinity, that ray
Of purest Heaven, which lights the glorious flame
Of patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd,
In powerless humble fortune, to repress
These ardent risings of the kindling soul;
Then, even superior to ambition, we
Would learn the private virtues; how to glide
Through shades and plains, along the smoothest stream
Of rural life: or snatch'd away by hope,
Through the dim spaces of futurity,
With earnest eye anticipate those scenes
Of happiness and wonder; where the mind,
In endless growth and infinite ascent,
Rises from state to state, and world to world.
And when with these the serious thought is foil'd,
We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes
Of frolic fancy; and incessant form
Unnumber'd pictures, fleeting o'er the brain
Yet rapid still renew'd, and pour'd immense
Into the mind, unbounded without space:
The great, the new, the beautiful; or mix'd,
Burlesque, and odd, the risible and gay;
Whence vivid Wit and Humour, droll of face,
Call Laughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve.
(ll. 568-614)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
"Winter" was first published in 1726, and first collected in 1730. See The Seasons, A Hymn, A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and Britannia, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson (1730). <Link to ECCO> Reprinted, revised and expanded in 1744, 1746. See also The Seasons. By James Thomson. (1744). <Link to ECCO> And The Seasons. By James Thomson. (1746). <Link to ECCO>
Text transcribed from The Seasons. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed in the Year 1730). <Link to ECCO>
Text transcribed from The Seasons. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed in the Year 1730). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/20/2013
