"'Could History man's secret heart reveal, / 'And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn, / 'Her transcripts to explore what bosom would not yearn!"
— Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Author
Date
1771, 1776
Metaphor
"'Could History man's secret heart reveal, / 'And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn, / 'Her transcripts to explore what bosom would not yearn!"
Metaphor in Context
XXXIV
'Ah, what avails (he said) to trace the springs
'That whirl of empire the stupendous wheel!
'Ah, what have I to do with conquering kings,
'Hands drench'd in blood, and breasts begirt with steel!
'To those, whom Nature taught to think and feel,
'Heroes, alas! are things of small concern.
'Could History man's secret heart reveal,
'And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn,
'Her transcripts to explore what bosom would not yearn!
(Bk II, p. 34, ll. 298-306)
'Ah, what avails (he said) to trace the springs
'That whirl of empire the stupendous wheel!
'Ah, what have I to do with conquering kings,
'Hands drench'd in blood, and breasts begirt with steel!
'To those, whom Nature taught to think and feel,
'Heroes, alas! are things of small concern.
'Could History man's secret heart reveal,
'And what imports a heaven-born mind to learn,
'Her transcripts to explore what bosom would not yearn!
(Bk II, p. 34, ll. 298-306)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
Over 20 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1771, 1772, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1779, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1800). Collected in The Muse's Pocket Companion, The Bouquet, A Selection of Poems, and A Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry.
"Book The First" printed anonymously in 1771; reprinted in 1772, 1774, etc. The second book was first printed in 1774. See David Radcliffe's Spenser and the Tradition.
See The Minstrel; or, the Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First. (London: Printed for E. & C. Dilly, in the Poultry, and for A. Kincaid & J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Poems on Several Occasions, by James Beattie, LL. D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Creech, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
"Book The First" printed anonymously in 1771; reprinted in 1772, 1774, etc. The second book was first printed in 1774. See David Radcliffe's Spenser and the Tradition.
See The Minstrel; or, the Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First. (London: Printed for E. & C. Dilly, in the Poultry, and for A. Kincaid & J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Poems on Several Occasions, by James Beattie, LL. D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen. (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Creech, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/02/2013
