text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"Or is it feeble Nature calls me back,
And breaks my spirit into grief again?
Is it a Stygian vapour in my blood,
A cold, slow puddle, creeping through my veins?
Or is it thus with all men?--Thus with all.
What are we? how unequal! now we soar,
And now we sink. To be the same, transcends
Our present prowess. Dearly pays the soul
For lodging ill; too dearly rents her clay.
Reason, a baffled counsellor, but adds
The blush of weakness to the bane of woe.
The noblest spirit, fighting her hard fate
In this damp, dusky region, charged with storms,
But feebly flutters, yet untaught to fly;
Or, flying, short her flight, and sure her fall.
Our utmost strength, when down, to rise again;
And not to yield, though beaten, all our praise.
(ll. 216-232, pp. 122-3 in CUP edition)",2013-06-10 19:46:42 UTC,"""The noblest spirit, fighting her hard fate / In this damp, dusky region, charged with storms, / But feebly flutters, yet untaught to fly; / Or, flying, short her flight, and sure her fall.""",2013-06-10 19:46:10 UTC,Night the Fifth,"",,Animals,"",Reading,20487,7407
"With this minute distinction, emblems just,--
Nature revolves, but man advances: both
Eternal; that a circle, this a line;
That gravitates, this soars. The aspiring Soul,
Ardent and tremulous, like flame, ascends;
Zeal and Humility her wings to heaven.
The world of matter, with its various forms,
All dies into new life. Life, born from Death,
Rolls the vast mass, and shall for ever roll.
No single atom, once in being, lost,
With change of counsel charges the Most High.
(ll. 690-700, p. 166 in CUP edition)",2013-06-11 21:19:21 UTC,"""The aspiring Soul, / Ardent and tremulous, like flame, ascends; / Zeal and Humility her wings to heaven.""",2013-06-11 21:19:21 UTC,Night the Sixth,"",,Animals,"",Reading,20528,7408
"""Know, all; know, infidels,--unapt to know!
""'Tis immortality your nature solves;
""'Tis immortality deciphers man,
""And opens all the mysteries of his make.
""Without it, half his instincts are a riddle;
""Without it, all his virtues are a dream.
""His very crimes attest his dignity.
""His sateless thirst of pleasure, gold, and fame,
""Declares him born for blessings infinite:
""What less than infinite makes un-absurd
""Passions, which all on earth but more inflames?
""Fierce passions, so mismeasured to this scene,
""Stretch'd out, like eagles' wings, beyond our nest,
""Far, far beyond the worth of all below,
""For earth too large, presage a nobler flight,
""And evidence our title to the skies.""
(ll. 506-520, pp. 191-2)",2013-06-12 15:56:04 UTC,"""Fierce passions, so mismeasured to this scene, / Stretch'd out, like eagles' wings, beyond our nest, / Far, far beyond the worth of all below, / For earth too large, presage a nobler flight, / And evidence our title to the skies.""",2013-06-12 15:56:04 UTC,Night the Seventh,"",,Animals,"",Reading,20567,7411
"Ye gentle theologues of calmer kind!
Whose constitution dictates to your pen,
Who, cold yourselves, think ardour comes from hell!
Think not our passions from Corruption sprung,
Though to Corruption now they lend their wings;
That is their mistress, not their mother. All
(And justly) Reason deem Divine: I see,
I feel a grandeur in the Passions too,
Which speaks their high descent, and glorious end;
Which speaks them rays of an eternal fire.
In Paradise itself they burnt as strong,
Ere Adam fell, though wiser in their aim.
Like the proud Eastern, struck by Providence,
What, though our passions are run mad, and stoop,
With low terrestrial appetite, to graze
On trash, on toys, dethroned from high desire?
Yet still, through their disgrace, no feeble ray
Of greatness shines, and tells us whence they fell:
But these (like that fallen monarch when reclaim'd)
When Reason moderates the rein aright,
Shall re-ascend, remount their former sphere,
Where once they soar'd illustrious; ere seduced,
By wanton Eve 's debauch, to stroll on earth,
And set the sublunary world on fire.
(ll. 521-544, p. 192 in CUP edition)",2013-06-12 16:05:56 UTC,"""Yet still, through their disgrace [the passions'], no feeble ray / Of greatness shines, and tells us whence they fell: / But these (like that fallen monarch [Adam] when reclaim'd) / When Reason moderates the rein aright, / Shall re-ascend, remount their former sphere, / Where once they soar'd illustrious; ere seduced, / By wanton Eve 's debauch, to stroll on earth, / And set the sublunary world on fire.""",2013-06-12 16:05:56 UTC,Night the Seventh,"",,Animals,"",Reading,20571,7411
"""Duty! Religion!--These, our duty done,
""Imply reward. Religion is mistake.
""Duty!--There's none, but to repel the cheat.
""Ye cheats, away! ye daughters of my Pride!
""Who feign yourselves the favourites of the Skies:
""Ye towering hopes, abortive energies!
""That toss and struggle in my lying breast,
""To scale the skies, and build presumptions there,
""As I were heir of an eternity.
""Vain, vain ambitions! trouble me no more.
""Why travel far in quest of sure defeat?
""As bounded as my being, be my wish.
""All is inverted, Wisdom is a fool.
""Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on;
""And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way;
""Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace!
""Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute,
""Since as the Brute we die. The sum of man,
""Of godlike man, to revel and to rot!
(ll. 716-734, p. 197 in CUP edition)",2013-06-12 19:17:09 UTC,"""Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on; / And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way; / Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace! Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute, / Since as the Brute we die.""",2013-06-12 19:17:09 UTC,Night the Seventh,"",,Animals and Empire,"",Reading,20578,7411