"So Fancy paints, so does the Poet write, / When he wou'd work a Tempest to the height."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1693
Metaphor
"So Fancy paints, so does the Poet write, / When he wou'd work a Tempest to the height."
Metaphor in Context
First from a Cloud, that Heaven all o'recast,
With glance so swift the subtle Lightning past
As split the Sail-Yards; trembling, and half Dead
Each thought the blow was level'd at his Head:
The flaming Shrouds so dreadful did appear,
All judg'd a wreck cou'd no proportion bear.
So Fancy paints, so does the Poet write,
When he wou'd work a Tempest to the height.

This danger past, a second does succeed;
Again with pity, and attention heed:
No less this second, tho' of diff'rent kind;
Such as, in Isis Temple, you may find
On votive Tablets, to the Life pourtray'd;
Where Painters are employ'd, and earn their Bread.
What Painters in their liveli'st Draughts express,
May be a Copy of my Friend's distress. [...]
(p. 242, ll. 27-42)
Provenance
Browsing in EEBO
Citation
The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse By Mr. Dryden and Several other Eminent Hands. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1693). <Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
07/11/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.