Date: 1715-1720

"And the Simile wonderfully illustrates this Fury proceeding from an uncommon Infusion of Courage from Heaven, in resembling it not to a constant River, but a Torrent rising from an extraordinary Burst of Rain. This Simile is one of those that draws along with it some foreign Circumstances."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"As when old Ocean's silent Surface sleeps, / The Waves just heaving on the purple Deeps; / While yet th'expected Tempest hangs on high, / Weighs down the Cloud, and blackens in the Sky, / The Mass of Waters will no Wind obey; / Jove sends one Gust, and bids them roll away. / While wav'ri...

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"There is scarce any thing in the whole Compass of Nature [referring to the calmed sea] that can more exactly represent the State of an irresolute Mind, wavering between two different Designs, sometimes inclining to the one, sometimes to the other, and then moving to the Point to which its Resolu...

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"There is one of great Beauty in Virgil, upon a Subject very like this, where he compares his Hero's Mind, agitated with a great Variety and quick Succession of Thoughts, to a dancing Light reflected from a Vessel of Water in Motion."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"Far, far too dear to ev'ry mortal Breast, / Sweet to the Soul, as Hony to the Taste; / Gath'ring like Vapours of a noxious kind / From fiery Blood, and dark'ning all the Mind."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)