"And yet, let but a zephyr's breath begin/ To stir the latent excellence within-- / Waked in that moment's elemental strife, / Impassion'd genius feels the breath of life; / The' expanding heart delights to leap and glow, / The pulse to kindle, and the tear to flow."
— Cawthorn, James (1719-1761)
Author
Date
1755, 1771
Metaphor
"And yet, let but a zephyr's breath begin/ To stir the latent excellence within-- / Waked in that moment's elemental strife, / Impassion'd genius feels the breath of life; / The' expanding heart delights to leap and glow, / The pulse to kindle, and the tear to flow."
Metaphor in Context
And yet, let but a zephyr's breath begin
To stir the latent excellence within--
Waked in that moment's elemental strife,
Impassion'd genius feels the breath of life;
The' expanding heart delights to leap and glow,
The pulse to kindle, and the tear to flow:
Strong and more strong the light celestial shines,
Each thought ennobles, and each sense refines,
Till all the soul, full opening to the flame,
Exalts to virtue what she felt for fame.
Hence, just as nature points the kindred fire,
One plies the pencil, one awakes the lyre;
This, with an Halley's luxury of soul,
Calls the wild needle back upon the pole,
Maps half the winds, and gives the sail to fly
In every ocean of the arctic sky;
While he whose vast capacious mind explores
All nature's scenes, and nature's God adores,
Skill'd in each drug the varying world provides,
All earth embosoms, and all ocean hides;
Expels, like Heberden, the young disease,
And softens anguish to the smile of ease.
(pp. 153-154)
To stir the latent excellence within--
Waked in that moment's elemental strife,
Impassion'd genius feels the breath of life;
The' expanding heart delights to leap and glow,
The pulse to kindle, and the tear to flow:
Strong and more strong the light celestial shines,
Each thought ennobles, and each sense refines,
Till all the soul, full opening to the flame,
Exalts to virtue what she felt for fame.
Hence, just as nature points the kindred fire,
One plies the pencil, one awakes the lyre;
This, with an Halley's luxury of soul,
Calls the wild needle back upon the pole,
Maps half the winds, and gives the sail to fly
In every ocean of the arctic sky;
While he whose vast capacious mind explores
All nature's scenes, and nature's God adores,
Skill'd in each drug the varying world provides,
All earth embosoms, and all ocean hides;
Expels, like Heberden, the young disease,
And softens anguish to the smile of ease.
(pp. 153-154)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
"Spoken at the Anniversary Visitation of the Tunbridge School, 1755." At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1771, 1790, 1795, 1800).
See Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Cawthorn. Late Master of Tunbridge School. (London: Printed by W. Woodfall: and sold by S. Bladon, 1771). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems of Hill, Cawthorn, and Bruce (Chiswick: C. Whittinham, 1822). <Link to Google Books>
See Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Cawthorn. Late Master of Tunbridge School. (London: Printed by W. Woodfall: and sold by S. Bladon, 1771). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from The Poems of Hill, Cawthorn, and Bruce (Chiswick: C. Whittinham, 1822). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
07/25/2014
