work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3347,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""iron"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Where Humber pours his rich commercial stream,
There dwelt a wretch, who breathed but to blaspheme.
In subterraneous caves his life he led,
Black as the mine, in which he wrought for bread.
When on a day, emerging from the deep,
A sabbath-day, (such sabbaths thousands keep!)
The wages of his weekly toil he bore
To buy a cock--whose blood might win him more;
As if the noblest of the feather'd kind
Were but for battle and for death design'd;
As if the consecrated hours were meant
For sport, to minds on cruelty intent.
It chanced, (such chances Providence obey,)
He met a fellow-labourer on the way,
Whose heart the same desires had once inflamed,
But now the savage temper was reclaim'd.
Persuasion on his lips had taken place;
For all plead well who plead the cause of grace.
His iron-heart with Scripture he assail'd,
Woo'd him to hear a sermon, and prevail'd.
His faithful bow the mighty preacher drew,
Swift as the lightning-glimpse the arrow flew.
He wept; he trembled; cast his eyes around,
To find a worse than he; but none he found.
He felt his sins, and wonder'd he should feel.
Grace made the wound, and grace alone could heal.",,8620,"","""His iron-heart with Scripture he assail'd, / Woo'd him to hear a sermon, and prevail'd.""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:33:40 UTC,""
5748,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""iron"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Then wept the Queen aloud, and thus replied.
Ah! whither is thy wisdom fled, for which
Both strangers once, and Trojans honour'd thee?
How canst thou wish to penetrate alone
The Greecian fleet, and to appear before
His face, by whom so many valiant sons
Of thine have fallen? Thou hast an iron heart!
For should that savage man and faithless once
Seize and discover thee, no pity expect
Or reverence at his hands. Come--let us weep
Together, here sequester'd; for the thread
Spun for him by his destiny severe
When he was born, ordain'd our son remote
From us his parents to be food for hounds
In that Chief's tent. Oh! clinging to his side,
How I could tear him with my teeth! His deeds,
Disgraceful to my son, then should not want
Retaliation; for he slew not him
Skulking, but standing boldly for the wives,
The daughters fair, and citizens of Troy,
Guiltless of flight[1], and of the wish to fly.",,15343,•C-H takes from Works (1835-7),"""Thou hast an iron heart! / For should that savage man and faithless once / Seize and discover thee, no pity expect / Or reverence at his hands""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:23 UTC,""
5748,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""iron"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Wretched indeed! ah what must thou have felt!
How hast thou dared to seek alone the fleet
Of the Achaians, and his face by whom
So many of thy valiant sons have fallen?
Thou hast an heart of iron, terrour-proof.
Come--sit beside me--Let us, if we may,
Great mourners both, bid sorrow sleep awhile.
There is no profit of our sighs and tears;
For thus, exempt from care themselves, the Gods
Ordain man's miserable race to mourn.
Fast by the threshold of Jove's courts are placed
Two casks, one stored with evil, one with good,
From which the God dispenses as he wills.
For whom the glorious Thunderer mingles both,
He leads a life checquer'd with good and ill
Alternate; but to whom he gives unmixt
The bitter cup, he makes that man a curse,
His name becomes a by-word of reproach,
His strength is hunger-bitten, and he walks
The blessed earth, unblest, go where he may.
So was my father Peleus at his birth
Nobly endow'd with plenty and with wealth
Distinguish'd by the Gods past all mankind,
Lord of the Myrmidons, and, though a man,
Yet match'd from heaven with an immortal bride.
But even him the Gods afflict, a son
Refusing him, who might possess his throne
Hereafter; for myself, his only heir,
Pass as a dream, and while I live, instead
Of solacing his age, here sit, before
Your distant walls, the scourge of thee and thine.
Thee also, ancient Priam, we have heard
Reported, once possessor of such wealth
As neither Lesbos, seat of Macar, owns,
Nor Eastern Phrygia, nor yet all the ports
Of Hellespont, but thou didst pass them all
In riches, and in number of thy sons.
But since the Powers of Heaven brought on thy land
This fatal war, battle and deeds of death
Always surround the city where thou reign'st.
Cease, therefore, from unprofitable tears,
Which, ere they raise thy son to life again,
Shall, doubtless, find fresh cause for which to flow.",,15344,•C-H takes from Works (1835-7),"""Thou hast an heart of iron, terrour-proof.""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:23 UTC,""
5749,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""iron"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Then thus, discrete, Telemachus replied.
Atrides! Menelaus! prince renown'd!
Hard was his lot, whom these rare qualities
Preserved not, neither had his dauntless heart
Been iron, had he 'scaped his cruel doom.
But haste, dismiss us hence, that on our beds
Reposed, we may enjoy sleep, needful now.",,15345,•C-H takes from Works (1835-7),"""Hard was his lot, whom these rare qualities / Preserved not, neither had his dauntless heart / Been iron, had he 'scaped his cruel doom.""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:24 UTC,""
5748,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-09 00:00:00 UTC,"Fear not, ye valiant men of Troy! fear not
The son of Peleus. In a war of words
I could, myself, cope even with the Gods;
But not with spears; there they excel us all.
Nor shall Achilles full performance give
To all his vaunts, but, if he some fulfil,
Shall others leave mutilate in the midst.
I will encounter him, though his hands be fire,
Though fire his hands, and his heart hammer'd steel.",,15346,•C-H takes from Works (1835-7),"""I will encounter him, though his hands be fire, / Though fire his hands, and his heart hammer'd steel.""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:24 UTC,""
5748,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-09 00:00:00 UTC,"Then, dying, warlike Hector thus replied.
Full well I knew before, how suit of mine
Should speed preferr'd to thee. Thy heart is steel.
But oh, while yet thou livest, think, lest the Gods
Requite thee on that day, when pierced thyself
By Paris and Apollo, thou shalt fall,
Brave as thou art, before the Scæan gate.
",,15347,•C-H takes from Works (1835-7),"""Thy heart is steel""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:43:24 UTC,""
5899,"","Searching ""breast"" and ""steel"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-06-13 00:00:00 UTC,"From southern Cambria's richly-varied clime,
Where grace and grandeur share an equal reign;
Where cliffs o'erhung with shade, and hills sublime
Of mountain lineage sweep into the main;
From bays, where Commerce furls her wearied sails,
Proud to have dar'd the dangers of the deep,
And floats at anchor'd ease inclos'd by vales,
To Ocean's verge where stray the vent'rous sheep:
From brilliant scenes like these I turn my eye;
And, lo! a solemn circle meets its view,
Wall'd to protect inhum'd mortality,
And shaded close with poplar and with yew.
Deep in that dell the humble fane appears,
Whence prayers if humble best to Heaven aspire;
No tower embattled, no proud spire it rears,
A moss-grown croslet decks its lowly choir.
And round that fane the sons of toil repose,
Who drove the plough-share, or the sail who spread;
With wives, with children, all in measur'd rows,
Two whiten'd flint stones mark the feet and head.
While these between full many a simple flow'r,
Pansy, and pink, with languid beauty smile;
The primrose opening at the twilight hour,
And velvet tufts of fragrant chamomile.
For, more intent the smell than sight to please,
Surviving love selects its vernal race;
Plants that with early perfume feed the breeze
May best each dank and noxious vapour chase.
The flaunting tulip, the carnation gay,
Turnsole, and piony, and all the train
That love to glitter in the noontide ray,
Ill suit the copse where Death and Silence reign.
Not but perchance to deck some virgin's tomb,
Where violets sweet their twofold purple spread,
Some rose of maiden blush may faintly bloom,
Or with'ring hang its emblematic head.
These to renew, with more than annual care
That wakeful love with pensive step will go;
The hand that lifts the dibble shakes with fear
Lest haply it disturb the friend below.
Vain fear! for never shall disturber come
Potent enough to wake such sleep profound,
Till the dread herald to the day of doom
Pours from his trump the world-dissolving sound.
Vain fear! yet who that boasts a heart to feel,
An eye to pity, would that fear reprove?
They only who are curst with breasts of steel
Can mock the foibles of surviving love.
Those foibles far beyond cold Reason's claim
Have power the social charities to spread;
They feed, sweet Tenderness! thy lambent flame,
Which, while it warms the heart, improves the head.
Its chemic aid a gradual heat applies
That from the dross of self each wish refines,
Extracts the liberal spirit, bids it rise
Till with primeval purity it shines.
Take then, poor peasants, from the friend of Gray
His humbler praise; for Gray or fail'd to see,
Or saw unnotic'd, what had wak'd a lay
Rich in the pathos of true poesy.
Yes, had he pac'd this church-way path along,
Or lean'd like me against this ivied wall,
How sadly sweet had flow'd his Dorian song,
Then sweetest when it flow'd at Nature's call.
Like Tadmor's king, his comprehensive mind
Each plant's peculiar character could seize;
And hence his moralizing[2] Muse had join'd,
To all these flow'rs, a thousand similies.
But he, alas! in distant village-grave
Has mix'd with dear maternal dust his own;
Ev'n now the pang, which parting Friendship gave,
Thrills at my heart, and tells me he is gone.
Take then from me the pensive strain that flows
Congenial to this consecrated gloom;
Where all that meets my eye some symbol shows
Of grief, like mine, that lives beyond the tomb.
Shows me that you, though doom'd the livelong year
For scanty food the toiling arm to ply,
Can smite your breasts, and find an inmate there
To heave, when Mem'ry bids, the ready sigh.
Still nurse that best of inmates, gentle swains!
Still act as heartfelt sympathy inspires;
The taste, which birth from Education gains,
Serves but to chill Affection's native fires.
To you more knowledge than what shields from vice
Were but a gift would multiply your cares;
Of matter and of mind let reasoners nice
Dispute; be Patience, yours, Presumption theirs.
You know (what more can earthly Science know?)
That all must die; by Revelation's ray
Illum'd, you trust the ashes placed below
These flow'ry tufts, shall rise again to day.
What if you deem, by hoar tradition led,
To you perchance devolv'd from Druids old,
That parted souls at solemn seasons tread
The circles that their shrines of clay enfold?
What if you deem they some sad pleasure take
These poor memorials of your love to view,
And scent the perfume for the planter's sake,
That breathes from vulgar rosemary and rue?
Unfeeling Wit may scorn, and Pride may frown;
Yet Fancy, empress of the realms of song,
Shall bless the decent mode, and Reason own
It may be right--for who can prove it wrong?[3]",,15663,"•C-H takes from Works (1811)
•Title Footnote gives, ""A custom is prevalent with the peasants in that part of the country, of planting field flowers and sweet herbs on the graves of their relations and friends; a pleasing specimen of this which the Author saw when he was paying a visit to Lord Vernon at Breton Ferry, Glamorganshire, in the summer of the year 1787, occasioned him to write this Elegy, first published 1797""","""They only who are curst with breasts of steel / Can mock the foibles of surviving love""",Metal,2009-09-14 19:44:16 UTC,I've included the entire poem
5963,"","Searching ""iron"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"When injuries have gor'd a well-wrought soul,
'Tis urg'd we should forgive and then forget!
When Priestley fats in Diocesan chair,
When Genius, Wit and Virtue are ador'd,
When Pitt shall kiss the Muses on their hill,
When Lady Grosv'nor curtsies to the creed,
When Gunning's sportive, who is all for-Lorn,
When Strathmore's Countess martyrs all her cats,
When Banks prefers Philosophers to flies,
When Tippoo makes the decalogue his law,
When Providence gives Q. his second sight,
When Gloster's Duchess names her Grandmama,
When regal finger purifies the blood,
When Sandwich writhes at tales of defloration,
When Cambria's Prince and meanness are allied,
When Israel's dingy produce hallow pigs,
When Lonsdale's lord becomes a man of wax,
When Dysart gives his mutton to the poor,
When Drapers' yards exceed the scale an inch,
When Burke and Freedom eat with the same spoon,
Then from the iron tablet of my mind,
Will I efface my catalogue of wrongs.
(pp. 37-9 in 1791 printing)",,15863,•I've included twice: Writing and Metal,"""Then from the iron tablet of my mind, / Will I efface my catalogue of wrongs.""",Metal,2014-02-26 22:27:24 UTC,""
5964,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""iron"" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,"Faith like a Polypus is subdivided,
The points of moral right are undecided:
Priests and old women are alike derided.
Be hot with wrath, great iron-hearted Mack,
Lord what a way I'm in--good lack!
(cf. p. 14 in 1794 printing)",,15865,"","""Be hot with wrath, great iron-hearted Mack""",Metal,2014-02-26 22:21:33 UTC,""
6137,Refinement,"Searching ""passion"" and ""dross"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-07-19 00:00:00 UTC,"""'Tis only those of purer clay
""From sensual dross refined,
""In whom the passions pleas'd obey
""The God within the mind,
""Who share my delegated aid,
""Through Wisdom's golden mean convey'd
""From the first source of sov'reign good:
""All else to horrid license tends,
""Springs from vindictive pride, and ends
""In anarchy and blood.",,16190,"""'Tis only those of purer clay[1]
""From sensual dross refined,
""In whom the passions pleas'd obey
""The God within the mind,[2]
""Who share my delegated aid,
""Through Wisdom's golden mean convey'd
""From the first source of sov'reign good:
""All else to horrid license tends,
""Springs from vindictive pride, and ends
""In anarchy and blood.
Footnote 2 reads, ""Mr. Pope uses this Platonic phrase for conscience.
--See Essay on Man, Ep. II. p. 204, with Warburton's note upon it, where the learned critic says justly that it admits a double meaning.
--It is in its latter practical, or rather Christian sense, that I here employ it, to convey the important truth delivered by St. Paul, ""where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.""""","""'Tis only those of purer clay / 'From sensual dross refined, / 'In whom the passions pleas'd obey / 'The God within the mind, / 'Who share my delegated aid, / 'Through Wisdom's golden mean convey'd / 'From the first source of sov'reign good.""",Metal,2010-12-30 23:31:13 UTC,III. 2.