The mind "Can each reluctant Appetite controul: / Can ev'ry Passion rule, and ev'ry Sense, / Change Nature's Course, and with her Laws dispense: / Our Breathing to prevent, she can arrest / Th'Extension, or Contraction of the Breast: / When pain'd with Hunger we can Food refuse, / And wholesome Abstinence, or Famine chuse."
— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for S. Buckley and J. Tonson
Date
1712
Metaphor
The mind "Can each reluctant Appetite controul: / Can ev'ry Passion rule, and ev'ry Sense, / Change Nature's Course, and with her Laws dispense: / Our Breathing to prevent, she can arrest / Th'Extension, or Contraction of the Breast: / When pain'd with Hunger we can Food refuse, / And wholesome Abstinence, or Famine chuse."
Metaphor in Context
By her superior Pow'r the Reas'ning Soul
Can each reluctant Appetite controul:
Can ev'ry Passion rule, and ev'ry Sense,
Change Nature's Course, and with her Laws dispense:
Our Breathing to prevent, she can arrest
Th'Extension, or Contraction of the Breast:
When pain'd with Hunger we can Food refuse,
And wholesome Abstinence, or Famine chuse.
Can the wild Beast his Instinct disobey,
And from his Jaws release the Captive Prey?
Or hungry Herds on verdant Pastures lye
Mindless to eat, and resolute to die?
With Heat expiring, can the panting Hart
Patient of Thirst from the cool Stream depart?
Can Brutes at Will imprison'd Breath detain?
Torment prefer to Ease, and Life disdain?
(VI, ll. 465-480, pp. 339-340)
Can each reluctant Appetite controul:
Can ev'ry Passion rule, and ev'ry Sense,
Change Nature's Course, and with her Laws dispense:
Our Breathing to prevent, she can arrest
Th'Extension, or Contraction of the Breast:
When pain'd with Hunger we can Food refuse,
And wholesome Abstinence, or Famine chuse.
Can the wild Beast his Instinct disobey,
And from his Jaws release the Captive Prey?
Or hungry Herds on verdant Pastures lye
Mindless to eat, and resolute to die?
With Heat expiring, can the panting Hart
Patient of Thirst from the cool Stream depart?
Can Brutes at Will imprison'd Breath detain?
Torment prefer to Ease, and Life disdain?
(VI, ll. 465-480, pp. 339-340)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 8 entries in ESTC (1712, 1715, 1718, 1736, 1797).
Text from Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God, 2nd ed. (London: S. Buckley and J. Tonson, 1712). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Other Online Editions: first edition (also published in 1712) is available <Link to ECCO>. See also 3rd edition (1715) <Link to Google Books>.
Text from Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God, 2nd ed. (London: S. Buckley and J. Tonson, 1712). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Other Online Editions: first edition (also published in 1712) is available <Link to ECCO>. See also 3rd edition (1715) <Link to Google Books>.
Date of Entry
08/07/2013
