"Her steady lamp shall pour its guiding ray, / And shed on lowliest minds celestial day."
— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown
Date
1814
Metaphor
"Her steady lamp shall pour its guiding ray, / And shed on lowliest minds celestial day."
Metaphor in Context
Thy own Maria's manners-painting page,
That bids thy portrait every heart engage,
At will that bids us smile, regret, and weep,
Shall rouse thy genius from its leaden sleep.
Thy children, sunk in baleful sloth no more,
Shall till the willing soil, and ply the oar,
And Industry, with hard, yet liberal hand,
Shall scatter countless blessings o'er the land.
No more thy nobles, indigent and vain,
Shall lead to Britain's shores a cumbrous train,
And change for heartless Fashion's gilded toys,
Their home-bred dignity, and home-felt joys;
In her clear mirror while they see reveal'd
What Folly bred, and Prejudice conceal'd;
Pride's frozen forms, and Ostentation's glare,
The outward splendour, and the inward care.
Proceed, fair Moralist! thy isle to guard,
And may success thy generous toils reward;
Her peasants thus to ancient rights restored,
No more shall languish for their absent lord,
No more Oppression's iron grasp deplore,
And lend rash aid to foreign foes no more:
Then shall Instruction, from her useful page,
By fair example youthful minds engage;
Her steady lamp shall pour its guiding ray,
And shed on lowliest minds celestial day.
Then, like the Fair our moral poet drew,
The cultured native mind shall hold to view
Fixed principle and fancy ever new.
That bids thy portrait every heart engage,
At will that bids us smile, regret, and weep,
Shall rouse thy genius from its leaden sleep.
Thy children, sunk in baleful sloth no more,
Shall till the willing soil, and ply the oar,
And Industry, with hard, yet liberal hand,
Shall scatter countless blessings o'er the land.
No more thy nobles, indigent and vain,
Shall lead to Britain's shores a cumbrous train,
And change for heartless Fashion's gilded toys,
Their home-bred dignity, and home-felt joys;
In her clear mirror while they see reveal'd
What Folly bred, and Prejudice conceal'd;
Pride's frozen forms, and Ostentation's glare,
The outward splendour, and the inward care.
Proceed, fair Moralist! thy isle to guard,
And may success thy generous toils reward;
Her peasants thus to ancient rights restored,
No more shall languish for their absent lord,
No more Oppression's iron grasp deplore,
And lend rash aid to foreign foes no more:
Then shall Instruction, from her useful page,
By fair example youthful minds engage;
Her steady lamp shall pour its guiding ray,
And shed on lowliest minds celestial day.
Then, like the Fair our moral poet drew,
The cultured native mind shall hold to view
Fixed principle and fancy ever new.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
01/18/2006
