work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3885,"",Searching HDIS (Poetry),2004-06-14 00:00:00 UTC,"THE DISCOURAGEMENT
What wou'd the wise men's Censure be,
I wonder, should they hear me say
I was resolv'd to throw my Books away;
How wou'd some scorn, and others pitty me!
Sure he's in love, 'tis for some Charming Eve
That he like Adam Paradise does leave.
This only difference would be
Between my great Gandsire, and me,
That I my Paradise forego
For want of appetite to know.
'Tis not that Knowledge I despise;
No, you misconstrue my design;
Or that t' Enthusiasm I incline
And hope by Inspiration to be wise.
'Tis not for this I bid my Books adieu,
No, I love Learning full as well as you,
And have the Arts great Circle run
With as much Vigour as the Sun
His Zodiac treads, till t'other day
A thought surpris'd me in my way.
Thought I, for any thing I know,
What we have stamp'd for science here,
Does only the Appearance of it wear
And will not pass above, tho Current here below;
Perhaps they've other rules to reason by,
And what's Truth here, with them's Absurdity.
We Truth by a Refracted ray
View, like the Sun at Ebb of day:
Whom the gross, treacherous Atmosphere
Makes where it is not, to appear.
Why then shall I with sweat and pain
Digg Mines of disputable Oar?
My labour's certain, so is not my store,
I may hereafter unlearn all again.
Why then for Truth do I my Spirits waste,
When after all I may be guil'd at last?
So when the honest Patriarch thought
With seven years labour he had bought
His Rachels Love, by morning light
He found the errour of the night.
Or grant some Knowledge dwells below,
'Tis but for some few years to stay
Till I'm set loose from this dark House of Clay,
And in an Instant I shall all things know.
Then shall I learn t' Accumulate Degrees
And be at once made Master of all Sciences.
What need I then great Summs lay out,
And that Estate with care forestall,
Which when few years are come about,
Into my hands of Course will fall?
",,10060,•INTEREST. A poem in which a philosopher despairs of philosophy. Poem bears witness to Norris's Platonism/Malebranchism,"""Or grant some Knowledge dwells below, / 'Tis but for some few years to stay / Till I'm set loose from this dark House of Clay, / And in an Instant I shall all things know.""","",2013-06-26 16:13:36 UTC,""
3891,"",HDIS (Poetry),2004-08-19 00:00:00 UTC," Thee gentle Charmer I implore
This my lost Treasure to restore;
Thy magic vertues all apply,
Set up again my Bank-rupt memory.
Search every Cell and corner of my brain,
And bring my Fugitive again.
To thy dark Cave thy self betake
And 'mong thy Dreams enquiry make;
Summon the best Ideas to appear
And bring that Form which most resembles her.",,10067,"","""This my lost Treasure to restore; / Thy magic vertues all apply, / Set up again my Bank-rupt memory. / Search every Cell and corner of my brain, / And bring my Fugitive again.""",Coinage and Rooms,2013-06-11 17:57:47 UTC,""
3892,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""room"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"Take bright Urania to thy Amorous breast,
To her thy flaming heart resign;
Void not the room, but change the guest,
And let thy sensual love commence Divine.",,10068,•I've included twice: Room and Guest,"""Take bright Urania to thy Amorous breast, / To her thy flaming heart resign; / Void not the room, but change the guest, / And let thy sensual love commence Divine""",Rooms,2009-09-14 19:34:41 UTC,""
3886,"",Searching HDIS (Poetry),2006-03-15 00:00:00 UTC,"But now, thou soft Enchantress of the mind,
Farewel, a change, a mighty change I find;
The Empire of my Heart thou must resign,
For I can be no longer thine.
A Nobler, a Diviner Guest,
Has took possession of my Breast;
He has, and must engross it all,
And yet the room is still too small.
In vain you tempt my Heart to rove,
A fairer Object now my Soul does move,
It must be all Devotion, what before was Love.
",,10076,"","""A Nobler, a Diviner Guest, / Has took possession of my Breast; / He has, and must engross it all, / And yet the room is still too small.""",Rooms,2009-09-14 19:34:42 UTC,""
3896,"",Searching HDIS (Poetry),2006-11-16 00:00:00 UTC," How long great God, how must I
Immur'd in this dark Prison lye!
Where at the Grates and Avenues of sense
My Soul must watch to have intelligence.
Where but faint gleams of thee salute my sight,
Like doubtful Moonshine in a Cloudy night.
When shall I leave this magic Sphere,
And be all Mind, all Eye, all Ear!",,10077,"","""How long great God, how must I / Immur'd in this dark Prison lye! / Where at the Grates and Avenues of sense / My Soul must watch to have intelligence.""","",2009-09-14 19:34:42 UTC,""
3986,Interiority; Augustine,"Searching ""interiority"" in OED and ECCO.",2006-05-31 00:00:00 UTC,"15. We may the conclude, that whatever we clearly and distinctly perceive is true, and that as long as we have Light before us, and assent to nothing but what we have a clear view and perception of, 'tis impossible we should err, or judge amiss. And consequently that we may then judge securely, and safely acquiesce and repose our selves in such Judgments, as true and certain, and as it were the undeceiving answers of Truth it self, even that interior Truth, whose School and Oracle is within our Breast, whose Instructions are faithful and unerring, and who seldom fails to answer us by them if we consult her aright. And indeed after all, we have no other reason to think any Proposition true in any of the Sciences, but only becuase we clearly perceive that it is so, and it shines out upon our Minds with and unquestionable and irresistable Light, and if that Reason be not a good one, then we are not sure of our knowing any Thing, but must quit all pretences to Science, and after the [End Page 170] Efforts of Contemplation sink down into a sceptical uncertainty. But if this Supposition be too absurd to be granted (as all Philosophy and Religion too is concern'd to maintain) then we must say, that whatever we clearly percieve is undoubtedly so as we perceive it. Evidence then is the Mark and distinguishing Character of Truth, she dwells in Light, and we may know her Divinity among a thousand probable Appearances, by the Glory that surrounds her.",,10353,•I've included twice: School and Oracle,"And consequently that we may then judge securely, and safely acquiesce and repose our selves in such Judgments, as true and certain, and as it were the undeceiving answers of Truth it self, even that interior Truth, whose School and Oracle is within our Breast, whose Instructions are faithful and unerring, and who seldom fails to answer us by them if we consult her aright.""","",2014-10-13 16:52:50 UTC,Vol 2 of 2. Part II. ... Section VI
3986,Interiority; Augustine,"Searching ""interiority"" in OED and ECCO.",2006-05-31 00:00:00 UTC,"... By the Manner of Study here as a distinct Head of Division from the rest, I understand those Means and Ways which are to be used in this Application: Which in general are these two, Reading (under which I comprehend also Conversation with the Learned, there being a reading of Men as well as Books) and Thinking, or private Meditation; But chiefly the latter of these: For since, according to the Principles of this Theory, Ideas and Ideal Truths (the true objects of our Study) are within our selves, by reason of that Union which we naturally have with the Divine Word or Wisdom, the universal Reason of all Spirits; it follows that the most direct and natural Way for the discovery of Truth, is, instead of going abroad for Intelligence, to retire into our selves, and there with humble and silent Attention, both to consult and receive the Answers of interior Truth, even that Divine Master which teaches in the School of the Breast. According to that Admonition of St. Austin, who advises that we should not go abroad, but rather enter into our [End Page 572] selves, and that for this very reason, because Truth has her Habitant in the inner Man. Nolie foras ire, in te ipsum redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas. ",,10356,I've included twice: Master and School,"""[I]t follows that the most direct and natural Way for the discovery of Truth, is, instead of going abroad for Intelligence, to retire into our selves, and there with humble and silent Attention, both to consult and receive the Answers of interior Truth, even that Divine Master which teaches in the School of the Breast""","",2009-09-14 19:34:55 UTC,Vol 2 of 2. Part II
3986,"",Reading in Google Books,2014-07-30 14:58:56 UTC,"5. Another Reason may be the exceeding great Difficulty of the Argument, there being not any one Subject perhaps of a more refined and elevated Nature, or that will carry a Writer through a larger Sea of matter of the most Abstract, Sublime and Metaphysical Considederation. The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly against the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light and Truth, and staring, with a full-levell'd Eye, the great Luminary of Spirits in the very Face. And tho' Truth be the Food of the Soul, and the relish of it be very Delicious and Savoury to its Tast, and tho' even in this Sense also Light be sweet,and a pleasant thing it is to the Eye to behold the Sun, yet it is painful and troublesom to behold it So, and Men Love Shade and Darkness, rather than so strong and so high a Tide of Light.
(I, pp. 5-6)",,24371,"","""The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly against the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light and Truth, and staring, with a full-levell'd Eye, the great Luminary of Spirits in the very Face.""",Mirror,2014-07-30 14:58:56 UTC,""