"The quiet of Our mind destroys, / Or with a full spring-tide of joys, / Or a dead-ebb of grief. "

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Adrian Drift
Date
1740
Metaphor
"The quiet of Our mind destroys, / Or with a full spring-tide of joys, / Or a dead-ebb of grief. "
Metaphor in Context
While mad Ophelia we lament,
  And Her distraction mourn,
Our grief's misplac'd, Our tears mispent,
Since what for Her condition's meant
  More justly fits Our Own.

For if 'tis happiness to be,
  From all the turns of Fate,
From dubious joy, and sorrow free;
Ophelia then is blest, and we
  Misunderstand Her state.

The Fates may do whate'er they will,
  They can't disturb her mind,
Insensible of good, or ill,
Ophelia is Ophelia still,
  Be Fortune cross or kind.

Then make with reason no more noise,
  Since what should give relief,
The quiet of Our mind destroys,
Or with a full spring-tide of joys,
  Or a dead-ebb of grief.

(ll. 1-20, pp. 696-7)
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
Prior, Matthew, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior. Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Date of Entry
01/05/2004

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