"What means this struggling in my breast, / If Thine is steel'd against my prayer?"

— Wesley, John and Charles


Place of Publication
Bristol, Bath, and London
Publisher
Printed by Felix Farley, J. Wilson, W. Frederick, and T. Harris
Date
1742
Metaphor
"What means this struggling in my breast, / If Thine is steel'd against my prayer?"
Metaphor in Context
What means this struggling in my breast,
If Thine is steel'd against my prayer?

If Thou art deaf to my request,
Why do I groan my sin to bear?
Surely it is Thy Spirit's groan;
I do not grieve, or weep, alone.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
More than 11 entries in ESTC (1742, 1743, 1745, 1747, 1749, 1755, 1756). See also the many other collections of hymns which select from or incorporate hymns from the original.

From the 1742 edition Hymns and Sacred Poems (Bristol: Printed and sold by Felix Farley, in Castle-Green; J. Wilson in Wine-Street; and at the School-Room in the Horse-Fair: in Bath, by W. Frederick, Bookseller: and in London, by T. Harris on the Bridge; also, at the Foundery in Upper-Moor-Fields, 1742). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>

Metaphors found searching in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, ed. G. Osborn, 13 vols. (London: The Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868). <Link to Hathi Trust>
Date of Entry
06/13/2005

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.