work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4151,"",HDIS,2003-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Yet if we look more closely, we shall find
Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind:
Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light;
The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right.
But as the slightest sketch, if justly trac'd,
Is by ill-colouring but the more disgrac'd,
So by false learning is good sense defac'd:
Some are bewilder'd in the maze of schools,
And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.
In search of wit these lose their common sense,
And then turn Critics in their own defence:
Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write,
Or with a Rival's, or an Eunuch's spite.
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.
If Mævius scribble in Apollo 's spight,
There are, who judge still worse than he can write.
(I, ll. 19-35)",2009-01-28,10675,"•I've included thrice: Seed, Light, Line","""Yet if we look more closely, we shall find / Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind: / Nature affords at least a glimm'ring light; / The lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right.""","",2009-09-14 19:35:10 UTC,Part I
4569,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-28 00:00:00 UTC,"Yet in this infant state, by stealth, by chance,
Th'increasing mind still feels a slow advance,
Thro' the dark Void ev'n gleams of Truth can shoot,
And love of Liberty upheave at root.
No more the tender seeds unquicken'd lie,
But stretch their form and wait for wings to fly:
Sensation first, the groundwork of the whole,
Deals ray by ray each image to the soul:
Perception true to ev'ry nerve receives
The various impulse, now exults, now grieves;
Thought works and ends, and dares afresh begin,
So whirpools pour out Streams, and suck them in;
That Thought romantic Memory detains
In unknown cells and in aereal chains;
Imagination thence her flow'rs translates,
And Fancy emulous of God, creates:
Experience slowly moving next appears,
Wise but by habit, judging but from years;
Till Knowledge comes, a wise and gen'rous heir,
And opes the Reservoir averse to spare:
And, Reason rises, the Newtonian Sun,
Moves all, guides all, and all sustains in one.",,12029,•I've included twice: Gleams and Root
•Rich Passage,"""Thro' the dark Void ev'n gleams of Truth can shoot, / And love of Liberty upheave at root.""","",2009-09-14 19:36:31 UTC,""
4598,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"As Years advance, th'abated Soul in most
Sinks to low Ebb, in second Childhood lost;
And feeble Age, dishonouring our Kind,
Robs all the Treasures of the wasted Mind;
With hov'ring Clouds obscures the muffled Sight,
And dim Suffusion of enduring Night:
But the rich Fervour of his rising Rage
Prevail'd o'er all th'Infirmities of Age;
And, unimpair'd by Injuries of Time,
Enjoy'd the Bloom of a perpetual Prime:
His Fire not less, he more correctly writ,
With ripen'd Judgment and digested Wit,
When the luxuriant Ardour of his Youth
Succeeding Years had tam'd to better Growth,
And seem'd to break the Body's Crust away,
To give th'expanded Mind more Room to play;
Which, in its Evening, open'd on the Sight
Surprizing Beams of full Meridian Light,
As thrifty of its Splendor it had been,
And all its Lustre had reserv'd 'till then.
",,12110,"I've included thrice: Growth, Crust, Light","""When the luxuriant Ardour of his Youth / Succeeding Years had tam'd to better Growth, / And seem'd to break the Body's Crust away, / To give th'expanded Mind more Room to play; / Which, in its Evening, open'd on the Sight / Surprizing Beams of full Meridian Light, / As thrifty of its Splendor it had been, / And all its Lustre had reserv'd 'till then.""","",2009-09-14 19:36:37 UTC,""
4761,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"Here glad Cornaro fix'd; and hop'd to find
Whate'er might please a Knowledge-loving Mind,
Or where the Columns rose with beauteous Wreath,
Or Sculpture seem'd to speak, or Paint to breath;
And tho' each Day increas'd his curious Store
Thought his capacious Soul had room for more;
And little deem'd the Moment was so nigh,
When all these Pleasures of his Breast should die,
The Beams of Science from his Soul retire
And fade, extinguish'd by a nobler Fire,
As kindled Wood, howe'er its Flames may rise,
When the bright Sun appears, in Embers dies.
Minerva sudden from his Soul was fled,
And Venus reign'd successive in her stead.
A thousand fair ones of her frolick Train,
Long at the Youth had aim'd their Shafts in vain;
Lanc'd from the wanton Eye they sought his Heart,
But Virtue's Temper still repuls'd the Dart,
Nor all their Force nor Poison need he fear,
Virtue must tip the Point that enter'd there;
As Diamonds scorn the Pow'r of keenest Steel,
And touch'd alone by Fellow-Gems can feel.
One Glance at last an easy Passage found,
And undirected made the deeper Wound;
From Modesty's bright Quiver it was sent,
Nor knew its beauteous Owner where it went.
From chaste Delphina's pow'rful Eye it came,
Malta to Venice lent the charming Dame;
Malta, blest Isle! Whose Daughters all are fair,
Whose Sons to Manly Fortitude are dear,
So properly do Love and Glory meet,
And Valour still with Beauty holds his Seat.
Soon as his Breast receiv'd the potent Ray,
Whate'er possest it, instantly gave way;
As in the Wood before the Lightning's Beam,
Perish the Leaves, and the whole Tree is Flame.",,12596,"•I've included thrice: Light, Fire, and Tree","""Soon as his Breast receiv'd the potent Ray, / Whate'er possest it, instantly gave way; / As in the Wood before the Lightning's Beam, / Perish the Leaves, and the whole Tree is Flame.""","",2009-09-14 19:37:09 UTC,""
5366,"",HDIS (Poetry),2004-01-07 00:00:00 UTC,"O wake thee, rouze thy spirit! Shall the spite
Of yon tormentor thus appall thy heart,
While i, thy friend and guardian, am at hand
To rescue and to heal? O let thy soul
Remember, what the will of heaven ordains
Is ever good for all; and if for all,
Then good for thee. Nor only by the warmth
And soothing sunshine of delightful things,
Do minds grow up and flourish. Oft misled
By that bland light, the young unpractis'd views
Of reason wander through a fatal road,
Far from their native aim: as if to lye
Inglorious in the fragrant shade, and wait
The soft access of ever-circling joys,
Were all the end of being. Ask thyself,
This pleasing error did it never lull
Thy wishes? Has thy constant heart refus'd
The silken fetters of delicious ease?
Or when divine Euphrosyné appear'd
Within this dwelling, did not thy desires
Hang far below the measure of thy fate,
Which i reveal'd before thee? and thy eyes,
Impatient of my counsels, turn away
To drink the soft effusion of her smiles?
Know then, for this the everlasting sire
Deprives thee of her presence, and instead,
O wise and still benevolent! ordains
This horrid visage hither to pursue
My steps; that so thy nature may discern
Its real good, and what alone can save
Thy feeble spirit in this hour of ill
From folly and despair. O yet belov'd!
Let not this headlong terror quite o'erwhelm
Thy scatter'd powers; nor fatal deem the rage
Of this tormentor, nor his proud assault,
While i am here to vindicate thy toil,
Above the generous question of thy arm.
Brave by thy fears and in thy weakness strong,
This hour he triumphs: but confront his might,
And dare him to the combat, then with ease
Disarm'd and quell'd, his fierceness he resigns
To bondage and to scorn: while thus inur'd
By watchful danger, by unceasing toil,
The immortal mind, superior to his fate,
Amid the outrage of external things,
Firm as the solid base of this great world,
Rests on his own foundations. Blow, ye winds!
Ye waves! ye thunders! rowl your tempest on;
Shake, ye old pillars of the marble sky!
Till all its orbs and all its worlds of fire
Be loosen'd from their seats; yet still serene,
The unconquer'd mind looks down upon the wreck;
And ever stronger as the storms advance,
Firm through the closing ruin holds his way,
Where nature calls him to the destin'd goal.
(Bk. II, ll. 545-99, pp. 73-6)",2011-06-13,14435,"","""Nor only by the warmth / And soothing sunshine of delightful things, / Do minds grow up and flourish.""","",2011-06-13 17:07:10 UTC,Book II
7407,"",Reading,2013-06-10 19:53:16 UTC,"But Wisdom smiles when humbled mortals weep.
When Sorrow wounds the breast, as ploughs the glebe,
And hearts obdurate feel her softening shower;
Her seed celestial, then, glad Wisdom sows;
Her golden harvest triumphs in the soil.
If so, Narcissa ! welcome my Relapse:
I'll raise a tax on my calamity,
And reap rich compensation from my pain.
I'll range the plenteous intellectual field;
And gather every thought of sovereign power,
To chase the moral maladies of man;
Thoughts which may bear transplanting to the skies,
Though natives of this coarse penurious soil;
Nor wholly wither there, where seraphs sing,
Refined, exalted, not annull'd, in heaven:
Reason, the sun that gives them birth, the same
In either clime, though more illustrious there.
These, choicely cull'd, and elegantly ranged,
Shall form a garland for Narcissa 's tomb;
And, peradventure, of no fading flowers.
(ll. 274-293, p. 124 in CUP edition)",,20491,"","""I'll range the plenteous intellectual field; / And gather every thought of sovereign power, / To chase the moral maladies of man; / Thoughts which may bear transplanting to the skies, / Though natives of this coarse penurious soil; / Nor wholly wither there, where seraphs sing, / Refined, exalted, not annull'd, in heaven: / Reason, the sun that gives them birth, the same / In either clime, though more illustrious there.""","",2013-06-10 19:53:16 UTC,Night the Fifth
7864,"",Reading work in progress by Sarah Tindal Kareem,2014-04-12 22:23:42 UTC,"I've a mighty part within
That the world hath never seen,
Rich as Eden's happy ground,
And with choicer plenty crown'd:
Here on all the shining boughs
Knowledge fair and useful grows;
On the same young flow'ry tree
All the seasons you may see;
Notions in the bloom of light,
Just disclosing to the sight;
Here are thoughts of larger growth,
Rip'ning into solid truth;
Fruits refin'd, of noble taste;
Seraphs feed on such repast.
Here in a green and shady grove,
Streams of pleasure mix with love:
There beneath the smiling skies
Hills of contemplation rise;
Now upon some shining top
Angels light, and call me up;
I rejoice to raise my feet,
Both rejoice when there we meet.
(pp. 469-470, ll. 21-42)",,23775,"","""I've a mighty part within / That the world hath never seen, / Rich as Eden's happy ground, / And with choicer plenty crown'd: / Here on all the shining boughs / Knowledge fair and useful grows; / On the same young flow'ry tree / All the seasons you may see; / Notions in the bloom of light, / Just disclosing to the sight; / Here are thoughts of larger growth, / Rip'ning into solid truth; / Fruits refin'd, of noble taste; / Seraphs feed on such repast.""","",2014-06-22 18:20:23 UTC,""