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Date: 1789, 1800

"On his one ruling passion Sir Pope hugely labors, / That, like th'old Hebrew walking-switch, eats up its neighbours."

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

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Date: 1789, 1800

"Human Nature's his show-box--your friend, would you know him? / Pull the string, Ruling Passion--the picture will show him."

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

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Date: 1789, 1800

"Some sort all our qualities each to its tribe, / And think Human Nature they truly describe"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

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Date: 1790

"The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds, / That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd / Now crowded on his mind in all their rage / Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!"

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

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Date: 1790

"There is a midnight in the breast / No morn shall ever cheer."

— Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851)

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Date: 1790

The mind holds "each parted form," "like the after-echoing" of a storm

— Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851)

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Date: 1790

Pleasing scenes may remain in the bosom, like "moons who do their watches run with the reflected brightness of the sun"

— Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851)

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Date: 1793

"There, train'd amid slaughter and ruin to wade, / They toil in the heart-steeling, barbarous trade."

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

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Date: 1793

" When painful truths invade the mind, / Ev'n wisdom wishes to be blind, / And hates th' officious ray."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

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Date: 1793

"Flit, Galloway, and find / Some narrow, dirty, dungeon cave, / The picture of thy mind"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

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