"Tis Education forms the vulgar mind: / Just as the Twig is bent, the Tree's inclin'd."
— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Author
Date
1734
Metaphor
"Tis Education forms the vulgar mind: / Just as the Twig is bent, the Tree's inclin'd."
Metaphor in Context
Tis Education forms the vulgar mind:
Just as the Twig is bent, the Tree's inclin'd.
Boastful and rough, your first son is a Squire;
The next a Tradesman, meek, and much a liar:
Tom struts a Soldier, open, bold, and brave;
Will sneaks a Scriv'ner, an exceeding knave:
Is he a Churchman? then he's fond of pow'r;
A Quaker? sly; a Presbyterian? sour;
A smart Free thinker? all things in an hour.
(ll. 101-9)
Just as the Twig is bent, the Tree's inclin'd.
Boastful and rough, your first son is a Squire;
The next a Tradesman, meek, and much a liar:
Tom struts a Soldier, open, bold, and brave;
Will sneaks a Scriv'ner, an exceeding knave:
Is he a Churchman? then he's fond of pow'r;
A Quaker? sly; a Presbyterian? sour;
A smart Free thinker? all things in an hour.
(ll. 101-9)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 40 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1733, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737, 1739, 1744, 1747, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1762, 1764, 1769, 1770, 1776, 1777, 1780, 1785, 1789, 1790, 1793, 1797, 1800).
See An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Lord Visct. Cobham. By Mr. Pope. (London: Printed for Lawton Gilliver, at Homer’s Head against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1733 [1734]). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Works of Alexander Pope (London: Printed for B. Lintot, Lawton Gilliver, H. Lintot, L. Gilliver, and J. Clarke, 1736). <Link to LION> [Epistle I. To Sir Richard Temple, Lord Viscount Cobham.]
Reading The Poems of Alexander Pope. A One-Volume Edition of the Twickenham Text with Selected Annotations. Ed. John Butt (New Haven: Yale UP, 1963).
See An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Lord Visct. Cobham. By Mr. Pope. (London: Printed for Lawton Gilliver, at Homer’s Head against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1733 [1734]). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Works of Alexander Pope (London: Printed for B. Lintot, Lawton Gilliver, H. Lintot, L. Gilliver, and J. Clarke, 1736). <Link to LION> [Epistle I. To Sir Richard Temple, Lord Viscount Cobham.]
Reading The Poems of Alexander Pope. A One-Volume Edition of the Twickenham Text with Selected Annotations. Ed. John Butt (New Haven: Yale UP, 1963).
Date of Entry
11/04/2003
