"Adieu, ye lays, that fancy's flowers adorn, / The soft amusement of the vacant mind!"
— Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Author
Date
1771, 1776
Metaphor
"Adieu, ye lays, that fancy's flowers adorn, / The soft amusement of the vacant mind!"
Metaphor in Context
LXI
Adieu, ye lays, that fancy's flowers adorn,
The soft amusement of the vacant mind!
He sleeps in dust, and all the Muses mourn,
He, whom each Virtue fired, each grace refined,
Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind!--
He sleeps in dust.--Ah, how should I pursue
My theme!--To heart-consuming grief resign'd
Here on his recent grave I fix my view,
And pour my bitter tears.--Ye flowery lays, adieu!
(Bk II, p. 44, ll. 541-49)
Adieu, ye lays, that fancy's flowers adorn,
The soft amusement of the vacant mind!
He sleeps in dust, and all the Muses mourn,
He, whom each Virtue fired, each grace refined,
Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind!--
He sleeps in dust.--Ah, how should I pursue
My theme!--To heart-consuming grief resign'd
Here on his recent grave I fix my view,
And pour my bitter tears.--Ye flowery lays, adieu!
(Bk II, p. 44, ll. 541-49)
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
