"Ere Vice the spotless Paper foul, / Imprint the Volume of the Soul / With Vertue's noble Mark!"

— Duck, Stephen (1705-1756)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Roberts; and R. Dodsley
Date
1741
Metaphor
"Ere Vice the spotless Paper foul, / Imprint the Volume of the Soul / With Vertue's noble Mark!"
Metaphor in Context
O! skill'd in all the various Parts
Of Learning, and the lib'ral Arts,
  That polish Human Kind,
Early instruct your tender Youth
In Heav'n's unerring Law of Truth,
  Engrave it on their Mind.

Ere Vice the spotless Paper foul,
Imprint the Volume of the Soul
  With Vertue's noble Mark!

The Mark, extending by degrees,
Shall grow like Letters carv'd on Trees,
  That widen with the Bark.
Provenance
Searching "Paper" and "Soul" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1741).

Hints To A Schoolmaster. Address'd To Rev.d Dr. Turnbull. By Stephen Duck (London: Printed for J. Roberts; and R. Dodsley, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
03/26/2005

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