"When she with apathy the breast would steel, / And teach us, deeply feeling, not to feel"
— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Author; Sold by W. Flexney, G. Kearsly
Date
1764
Metaphor
"When she with apathy the breast would steel, / And teach us, deeply feeling, not to feel"
Metaphor in Context
Had she, content within her proper sphere,
Taught lessons suited to the human ear,
Which might fair Virtue's genuine fruits produce,
Made not for ornament but real use,
The heart of man, unrivall'd, she had sway'd,
Praised by the good, and by the bad obey'd;
But when she, overturning Reason's throne,
Strove proudly in its place to plant her own;
When she with apathy the breast would steel,
And teach us, deeply feeling, not to feel;
When she would wildly all her force employ,
Not to correct our passions, but destroy;
When, not content our nature to restore,
As made by God, she made it new all o'er;
When, with a strange and criminal excess,
To make us more than men she made us less;
The good her dwindled power with pity saw,
The bad with joy, and none but fools with awe.
Taught lessons suited to the human ear,
Which might fair Virtue's genuine fruits produce,
Made not for ornament but real use,
The heart of man, unrivall'd, she had sway'd,
Praised by the good, and by the bad obey'd;
But when she, overturning Reason's throne,
Strove proudly in its place to plant her own;
When she with apathy the breast would steel,
And teach us, deeply feeling, not to feel;
When she would wildly all her force employ,
Not to correct our passions, but destroy;
When, not content our nature to restore,
As made by God, she made it new all o'er;
When, with a strange and criminal excess,
To make us more than men she made us less;
The good her dwindled power with pity saw,
The bad with joy, and none but fools with awe.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in the ESTC (1764, 1765).
See The Farewell. A Poem. (Printed for Author; Sold by W. Flexney, G. Kearsly, 1764). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
See The Farewell. A Poem. (Printed for Author; Sold by W. Flexney, G. Kearsly, 1764). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
