"Ev'n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence, / A secret Damp of Grief comes o'er my Thoughts, / And I'm unhappy, tho' thou smilest upon me."
— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1713
Metaphor
"Ev'n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence, / A secret Damp of Grief comes o'er my Thoughts, / And I'm unhappy, tho' thou smilest upon me."
Metaphor in Context
PORTIUS.
Oh, Lucia, Language is too faint to show
His Rage of Love; it prey's upon his Life;
He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies:
His Passions and his Virtues lie confused,
And mixt together in so wild a Tumult,
That the whole Man is quite disfigur'd in him.
Heav'ns! wou'd one think 'twere possible for Love
To make such Ravage in a noble Soul!
Oh, Lucia, I'm distress'd! my Heart bleeds for him;
Ev'n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence,
A secret Damp of Grief comes o'er my Thoughts,
And I'm unhappy, tho' thou smilest upon me.
(III.i, p. 35)
Oh, Lucia, Language is too faint to show
His Rage of Love; it prey's upon his Life;
He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies:
His Passions and his Virtues lie confused,
And mixt together in so wild a Tumult,
That the whole Man is quite disfigur'd in him.
Heav'ns! wou'd one think 'twere possible for Love
To make such Ravage in a noble Soul!
Oh, Lucia, I'm distress'd! my Heart bleeds for him;
Ev'n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence,
A secret Damp of Grief comes o'er my Thoughts,
And I'm unhappy, tho' thou smilest upon me.
(III.i, p. 35)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
First performed April, 1713; 8 editions that year. Over one 120 entries in the ESTC (1713, 1716, 1718, 1721, 1722, 1725, 1726, 1728, 1730, 1732, 1733, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737, 1739, 1744, 1745, 1746, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1761, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1793, 1795, 1799, 1800).
See Cato. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Addison. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1713). <Link to ECCO-TCP> <Link to Google Books>
Reading also Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
See Cato. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Addison. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1713). <Link to ECCO-TCP> <Link to Google Books>
Reading also Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
Date of Entry
07/21/2013
