A "glance of the mind" is fleet

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Joseph Johnson
Date
1782
Metaphor
A "glance of the mind" is fleet
Metaphor in Context
How fleet is a glance of the mind!
  Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
  And the swift winged arrows of light.
When I think of my own native land,
  In a moment I seem to be there;
But alas! recollection at hand
  Soon hurries me back to despair.
(ll. 41-8, p. 404)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
See Poems by William Cowper (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1782). <Link to Google Books><Link to ECCO-TCP>

Text from The Works of William Cowper (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1835-1837).

Reading The Poems of William Cowper, 3 vols. ed. John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (Oxford: Oxford UP: 1980), I, pp. 403-404.
Theme
Speed of thought
Date of Entry
12/16/2003

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