"On Life's rough sea by stormy passions tost, / Freedom and Virtue were together lost."
— Wodhull, Michael (1740-1816)
Author
Work Title
Date
1765, 1770
Metaphor
"On Life's rough sea by stormy passions tost, / Freedom and Virtue were together lost."
Metaphor in Context
Where-e'er we search the vast instructive page
Of Fact, or Fiction, we in every age
See Saints impal'd and tortur'd at the stake
Thro' fervent zeal, and for Religion's sake;
Murders and sorceries, and Men, whose heart
Ne'er prompted one humane, one generous part,
While some vain Mortal, arbiter os ill,
Govern'd the rest; at whose imperious will
Millions of slaughter'd Heroes bit the dust
To soothe a Tyrant's pride, a Strumpet's lust;
Till loathing both the present, and the past,
We learn this melancholy truth at last;
"On Life's rough sea by stormy passions tost,
"Freedom and Virtue were together lost."
(p. 241)
Of Fact, or Fiction, we in every age
See Saints impal'd and tortur'd at the stake
Thro' fervent zeal, and for Religion's sake;
Murders and sorceries, and Men, whose heart
Ne'er prompted one humane, one generous part,
While some vain Mortal, arbiter os ill,
Govern'd the rest; at whose imperious will
Millions of slaughter'd Heroes bit the dust
To soothe a Tyrant's pride, a Strumpet's lust;
Till loathing both the present, and the past,
We learn this melancholy truth at last;
"On Life's rough sea by stormy passions tost,
"Freedom and Virtue were together lost."
(p. 241)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
ECCO and ESTC (1765, 1772, 1775, 1798, 1799).
See The Equality of Mankind. A Poem. By Mr. Wodhull. (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by T. Beckett, and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand; and T. Payne, at the Meuse-Gate, London, 1765)
Text from A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed for G. Pearch, 1770). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See The Equality of Mankind. A Poem. By Mr. Wodhull. (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by T. Beckett, and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand; and T. Payne, at the Meuse-Gate, London, 1765)
Text from A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed for G. Pearch, 1770). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
11/10/2013