"But they who are all Intellect and Will, / And what they please fulfil, / Whose Minds are pure, free from the least Allay, / Serene, and clear, as everlasting Day, / Imbibe the most extatick Joys with eager Haste, / Nor can th' immense Excess immortal Spirits waste."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. B. for Bernard Lintott
Date
1703
Metaphor
"But they who are all Intellect and Will, / And what they please fulfil, / Whose Minds are pure, free from the least Allay, / Serene, and clear, as everlasting Day, / Imbibe the most extatick Joys with eager Haste, / Nor can th' immense Excess immortal Spirits waste."
Metaphor in Context
O let the Earth her great Creator bless,
And all the Wonders of his Pow'r confess:
From Pole to Pole, let her resound his Praise;
Around her Globe let the glad Accents fly,
Till they are echo'd by the neighbouring Skie:
  To all the list'ning Worlds above
    Let her proclaim aloud
The blest Effects of his transcendent Love,
Who out of nothing did her beauteous Fabrick raise.
  O Prodigy of Art Divine!
The Deity did in the wondrous Structure shine!
Who can in sit Expressions the sublime Idea dress,
Or the stupendous Marvels of that Work express!
Angels themselves, whose Intellects are free
From those dark Mists which our weak Reason cloud,
Who things in their remotest Causes see,
Whose Knowledge like their Station's great and high,
Above the loftiest Flights of weak Mortality,
Astonish'd saw the rising World appear;
The new, the glorious, the transporting Sight,
  So full of Wonder, and Delight,
With rapt'rous Joys fill'd each celestial Breast,
  With Joys too vast to be exprest;
    Such Extasies as here
    We could not feel, and live;
They to our Beings wou'd a Period give:
The killing Pleasure wou'd be too intense,
  And quite o'erwhelm our feeble Sense;
But they who are all Intellect and Will,
    And what they please fulfil,
Whose Minds are pure, free from the least Allay,
Serene, and clear, as everlasting Day,
Imbibe the most extatick Joys with eager Haste,
Nor can th' immense Excess immortal Spirits waste
.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "allay" ("alloy") in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in the ESTC (1703, 1709, 1713, 1722, 1728).

The Lady Chudleigh, Poems on Several Occasions. Together with the Song of the Three Children Paraphras'd (London: Bernard Lintott, 1703). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
04/14/2005
Date of Review
01/06/2012

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.