"He must invigorate them by exercise, polish them by conversation, and increase them by every species of elegant and virtuous knowledge, and the mind will not fail to reproduce with interest those seeds, which are sown in it by study and observation."
— More, Hannah (1745-1833)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Wilkie; and T. Cadell
Date
1777
Metaphor
"He must invigorate them by exercise, polish them by conversation, and increase them by every species of elegant and virtuous knowledge, and the mind will not fail to reproduce with interest those seeds, which are sown in it by study and observation."
Metaphor in Context
If in the other fine arts this accumulation of knowledge is necessary, it is indispensably so in poetry. It is a fatal rashness for any one to trust too much to their own stock of ideas.
He must invigorate them by exercise, polish them by conversation, and increase them by every species of elegant and virtuous knowledge, and the mind will not fail to reproduce with interest those seeds, which are sown in it by study and observation. Above all, let every one guard against the dangerous opinion that he knows enough: an opinion that will weaken the energy and reduce the powers of the mind, which, though once perhaps vigorous and effectual, will be sunk to a state of literary imbecility, by cherishing vain and presumptuous ideas of its own independence.
(pp. 194-5)
He must invigorate them by exercise, polish them by conversation, and increase them by every species of elegant and virtuous knowledge, and the mind will not fail to reproduce with interest those seeds, which are sown in it by study and observation. Above all, let every one guard against the dangerous opinion that he knows enough: an opinion that will weaken the energy and reduce the powers of the mind, which, though once perhaps vigorous and effectual, will be sunk to a state of literary imbecility, by cherishing vain and presumptuous ideas of its own independence.
(pp. 194-5)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
11 entries in ESTC (1777, 1778, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1791, 1792, 1796).
Essays on Various Subjects: Principally Designed for Young Ladies. (London: Printed for J. Wilkie; and T. Cadell, 1777). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Essays on Various Subjects: Principally Designed for Young Ladies. (London: Printed for J. Wilkie; and T. Cadell, 1777). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
10/16/2013
