"A willing Goddess, and immortal life, / Might banish from thy mind an absent wife."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.


Place of Publication
London
Date
1725-6
Metaphor
"A willing Goddess, and immortal life, / Might banish from thy mind an absent wife."
Metaphor in Context
Ulysses! (with a sigh she thus began)
Oh sprung from Gods! in wisdom more than man.
Is then thy home the passion of thy heart?
Thus wilt thou leave me, are we thus to part?
Farewel! and ever joyful may'st thou be,
Nor break the transport with one thought of me.
But ah Ulysses! wert thou giv'n to know
What fate yet dooms thee, yet, to undergo;
Thy heart might settle in this scene of ease,
And ev'n these slighted charms might learn to please.
A willing Goddess, and immortal life,
Might banish from thy mind an absent wife.
Am I inferior to a mortal dame?
Less soft my feature, less august my frame?
Or shall the daughters of mankind compare
Their earth-born beauties with the heav'nly fair?
(Bk. V)
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Over 30 entries in ESTC (1725, 1726, 1745, 1752, 1753, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1763, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1778, 1790, 1792, 1795, 1796).

The Odyssey of Homer. Translated from the Greek, 5 vols. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintot, 1725-26).
Date of Entry
10/26/2003

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