"Feel the thought's image on the eyeball roll; / Behind that window, sits th' attentive Soul:"

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)


Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1746, 1753
Metaphor
"Feel the thought's image on the eyeball roll; / Behind that window, sits th' attentive Soul:"
Metaphor in Context
Previous to art's first act--(till then, all vain)
Print the ideal pathos, on the brain:
Feel the thought's image on the eyeball roll;
Behind that window, sits th' attentive Soul:

Wing'd, at her beck, th' obedient Muscles fly,
Bent, or relaxing, to the varied eye:
Press'd, moderate, lenient, Voice's organ'd sound,
To each felt impulse, tones the tuneful round:
Form'd to the nerves, concurring Mein partakes,
So, the mov'd actor moves--and passion shakes.
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "window" in HDIS (Poetry); found again reading Joseph R. Roach, The Player's Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1985), 81. And again, reading at the Folger Library.
Citation
At least 4 entries in ESTC (1746, 1753, 1754, 1779).

Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, 4 vols. (London: Printed for the Benefit of the Family, 1753).

Copy at Folger Library also consulted. Aaron Hill, The Art of Acting. Part 1. Deriving Rules from a New Principle, for Touching the Passions in a Natural Manner. An Essay of General Use. (London: Printed for J. Osborn, 1746).
Date of Entry
01/25/2006
Date of Review
01/13/2012

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