"Words are but Pictures, tru or False Designd / To Draw the Lines, and Features of the Minde"
— Butler, Samuel (1613-1680)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
J. and R. Tonson
Date
1759
Metaphor
"Words are but Pictures, tru or False Designd / To Draw the Lines, and Features of the Minde"
Metaphor in Context
Words are but Pictures, tru or False Designd
To Draw the Lines, and Features of the Minde,
The Characters and artificial Draughts
T' express the inward Images of thoughts;
And Artists say a Picture may be good
Altho the Moral be not understood;
Whence some Infer, They may Admire a Style,
Though all the Rest be ere so Mean and vile:
Applaud th' outsides of words, but never minde,
With what Fantastique Taudery th' are Lyn'd.
To Draw the Lines, and Features of the Minde,
The Characters and artificial Draughts
T' express the inward Images of thoughts;
And Artists say a Picture may be good
Altho the Moral be not understood;
Whence some Infer, They may Admire a Style,
Though all the Rest be ere so Mean and vile:
Applaud th' outsides of words, but never minde,
With what Fantastique Taudery th' are Lyn'd.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "line" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1759). <Link to Google Books><Link to ECCO>
See also "Satyr Upon the Imperfection and Abuse of Human Learning" in Satires and Miscellaneous Poetry and Prose, ed. René Lamar (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1928).
See also "Satyr Upon the Imperfection and Abuse of Human Learning" in Satires and Miscellaneous Poetry and Prose, ed. René Lamar (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1928).
Date of Entry
05/11/2005
