"All, more or less, against each other dash, / To mutual hurt by gusts of passion driven, / And suffering more from Folly than from Fate."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1745
Metaphor
"All, more or less, against each other dash, / To mutual hurt by gusts of passion driven, / And suffering more from Folly than from Fate."
Metaphor in Context
They dote! on what? Immortal views apart,
A region of outsides, a land of shadows!
A fruitful field of flowery promises!
A wilderness for joys, perplex'd with doubts,
And sharp with thorns! a troubled ocean, spread
With bold adventurers, their all on board;
No second hope if here their fortune frowns:
Frown soon it must. Of various rates they sail,
Of ensigns various; all alike in this,--
All restless, anxious; toss'd with hopes and fears
In calmest skies: obnoxious all to storm;
And stormy the most general blast of life:
All bound for happiness; yet few provide
The chart of Knowledge, pointing where it lies;
Or Virtue's helm, to shape the course design'd.
All, more or less, capricious Fate lament,
Now lifted by the tide, and now resorb'd,
And farther from their wishes than before:
All, more or less, against each other dash,
To mutual hurt by gusts of passion driven,
And suffering more from Folly than from Fate.
(pp. 155-6, ll. 147-167)
A region of outsides, a land of shadows!
A fruitful field of flowery promises!
A wilderness for joys, perplex'd with doubts,
And sharp with thorns! a troubled ocean, spread
With bold adventurers, their all on board;
No second hope if here their fortune frowns:
Frown soon it must. Of various rates they sail,
Of ensigns various; all alike in this,--
All restless, anxious; toss'd with hopes and fears
In calmest skies: obnoxious all to storm;
And stormy the most general blast of life:
All bound for happiness; yet few provide
The chart of Knowledge, pointing where it lies;
Or Virtue's helm, to shape the course design'd.
All, more or less, capricious Fate lament,
Now lifted by the tide, and now resorb'd,
And farther from their wishes than before:
All, more or less, against each other dash,
To mutual hurt by gusts of passion driven,
And suffering more from Folly than from Fate.
(pp. 155-6, ll. 147-167)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).
Edward Young, The Complaint. Or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. Night the Eighth. Virtue's Apology: Or, The Man of the World Answer'd. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1745).
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>
Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Edward Young, The Complaint. Or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. Night the Eighth. Virtue's Apology: Or, The Man of the World Answer'd. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1745).
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>
Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
09/02/2013
