"And Reason now through Number, Time, and Space, / 'Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye, / 'And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace, / 'Whose long progression leads to Deity."
— Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Author
Date
1771, 1776
Metaphor
"And Reason now through Number, Time, and Space, / 'Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye, / 'And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace, / 'Whose long progression leads to Deity."
Metaphor in Context
XLVI
'And Reason now through Number, Time, and Space,
'Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye,
'And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
'Whose long progression leads to Deity.
'Can mortal strength presume to soar so high!
'Can mortal sight, so oft bedim'd with tears,
'Such glory bear!---for lo, the shadows fly
'From nature's face; Confusion disappears,
'And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.
(Bk II, p. 39, ll. 406-414)
'And Reason now through Number, Time, and Space,
'Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye,
'And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
'Whose long progression leads to Deity.
'Can mortal strength presume to soar so high!
'Can mortal sight, so oft bedim'd with tears,
'Such glory bear!---for lo, the shadows fly
'From nature's face; Confusion disappears,
'And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.
(Bk II, p. 39, ll. 406-414)
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
