"'I saw thee near the murmuring fountain lie; / 'Mark'd the rough storm that gather'd in thy breast, / 'And knew what care thy joyless soul opprest."
— Jones, Sir William (1746-1794)
Date
1772, 1810
Metaphor
"'I saw thee near the murmuring fountain lie; / 'Mark'd the rough storm that gather'd in thy breast, / 'And knew what care thy joyless soul opprest."
Metaphor in Context
'Favorite of heaven, my much lov'd Maia, know,
'From me all joys, all earthly blessings, flow:
'Me suppliant men imperial Fortune call,
'The mighty empress of yon rolling ball:'
(She rais'd her finger, and the wondering maid,
At distance hung, the dusky globe survey'd;
Saw the round earth with foaming oceans vein'd,
And laboring crowds on mountain tops sustain'd.)
'To me has fate the pleasing task assign'd,
'To rule the various thoughts of humankind;
'To catch each rising wish, each ardent prayer,
'And some to grant, and some to waste in air.
'Know further,--as I rang'd the crystal sky,
'I saw thee near the murmuring fountain lie;
'Mark'd the rough storm that gather'd in thy breast,
'And knew what care thy joyless soul opprest.
'Strait I resolv'd to bring thee quick relief,
'Ease every weight, and soften every grief;
'If in this court contented thou canst live,
'And taste the joys these happy gardens give:--
'But fill thy mind with vain desires no more,
'And view without a wish yon shining store.
'Soon shall a numerous train before me bend,
'And kneeling votaries my shrine attend;
'Warn'd by their empty vanities beware,
'And scorn the folly of each human prayer.'
(II, p. 152, ll. 129-154)
'From me all joys, all earthly blessings, flow:
'Me suppliant men imperial Fortune call,
'The mighty empress of yon rolling ball:'
(She rais'd her finger, and the wondering maid,
At distance hung, the dusky globe survey'd;
Saw the round earth with foaming oceans vein'd,
And laboring crowds on mountain tops sustain'd.)
'To me has fate the pleasing task assign'd,
'To rule the various thoughts of humankind;
'To catch each rising wish, each ardent prayer,
'And some to grant, and some to waste in air.
'Know further,--as I rang'd the crystal sky,
'I saw thee near the murmuring fountain lie;
'Mark'd the rough storm that gather'd in thy breast,
'And knew what care thy joyless soul opprest.
'Strait I resolv'd to bring thee quick relief,
'Ease every weight, and soften every grief;
'If in this court contented thou canst live,
'And taste the joys these happy gardens give:--
'But fill thy mind with vain desires no more,
'And view without a wish yon shining store.
'Soon shall a numerous train before me bend,
'And kneeling votaries my shrine attend;
'Warn'd by their empty vanities beware,
'And scorn the folly of each human prayer.'
(II, p. 152, ll. 129-154)
Categories
Provenance
LION
Citation
Written in 1769. 3 entries for Poems in ESTC (1772, 1774, 1777).
Text from The Poetical Works of William Jones. With the Life of the author, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Nichols and Son; R. Baldwin, 1810).
See also Poems: Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Languages (Altenbrugh: Gottlob Emanuel Richter, 1774).<Link to Google Books>
Text from The Poetical Works of William Jones. With the Life of the author, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Nichols and Son; R. Baldwin, 1810).
See also Poems: Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Languages (Altenbrugh: Gottlob Emanuel Richter, 1774).<Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
10/13/2013
