"A silent night inhabits my sad breast, / And now no chearful thought will be my guest."
— Pordage, Samuel (bap. 1633, d. c. 1691)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W.G. for Henry Marsh and Peter Dring
Date
1660
Metaphor
"A silent night inhabits my sad breast, / And now no chearful thought will be my guest."
Metaphor in Context
Such is the melancholly Earth, when light
Flies thence, and leaves its room to sable night;
VVhen darkness, Cold and Shadows dwell upon
Her Surface; some pale glimerings of the Moon
Is all she can expect; a mourner then
She is 'till Phoebus brings his day agen:
Such is the matchless, mateless Turtle Dove,
Sighing its murmurs for its absent Love:
Such is the body when the Soul is fled:
Such Pyramus supposing Thisbe dead:
Such the male Palm the female broken down,
As I am now, my fairest Sylvia's gon.
My wither'd Head declines apace, my greem
And growing youth to sprout no more is seen.
My blood's grown cold, and frozen; every limb
As if it wanted heat, and life doth seem.
My hoarse complaints the very rocks do move,
VVho eccho the last accents of my Love.
A silent night inhabits my sad breast,
And now no chearful thought will be my guest.
Till her return, whose eyes will cause a day,
Thus must I in my own unquiet stay;
Wishing for the bright morning, which must rise
From th' Luminaries of fair Sylvia's eyes.
Flies thence, and leaves its room to sable night;
VVhen darkness, Cold and Shadows dwell upon
Her Surface; some pale glimerings of the Moon
Is all she can expect; a mourner then
She is 'till Phoebus brings his day agen:
Such is the matchless, mateless Turtle Dove,
Sighing its murmurs for its absent Love:
Such is the body when the Soul is fled:
Such Pyramus supposing Thisbe dead:
Such the male Palm the female broken down,
As I am now, my fairest Sylvia's gon.
My wither'd Head declines apace, my greem
And growing youth to sprout no more is seen.
My blood's grown cold, and frozen; every limb
As if it wanted heat, and life doth seem.
My hoarse complaints the very rocks do move,
VVho eccho the last accents of my Love.
A silent night inhabits my sad breast,
And now no chearful thought will be my guest.
Till her return, whose eyes will cause a day,
Thus must I in my own unquiet stay;
Wishing for the bright morning, which must rise
From th' Luminaries of fair Sylvia's eyes.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "guest" and "breast" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Full-Text Database
Samuel Pordage, Poems Upon Several Occasions by S.P (London: W.G. for Henry Marsh and Peter Dring, 1660). <Link to EEBO>
Samuel Pordage, Poems Upon Several Occasions by S.P (London: W.G. for Henry Marsh and Peter Dring, 1660). <Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
03/15/2006
