"Yet distant countries / Not then, as now, communication held / By beaten tracks, and all the luxuries / Of easy transit, while the missive charge / Of the pen's register'd mirror of the mind / Was slow and interrupted"

— Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton (1762-1837)


Place of Publication
London; Geneva
Publisher
Bossange and Co.; A. Cherbuliez
Date
1832
Metaphor
"Yet distant countries / Not then, as now, communication held / By beaten tracks, and all the luxuries / Of easy transit, while the missive charge / Of the pen's register'd mirror of the mind / Was slow and interrupted"
Metaphor in Context
Thus ever have thy sympathies and ties
Of blood and friendship, O Geneva, been
With England's children! Nor is Ickham's hamlet,
Its ivied towers, and its rude antique rectory,
And thy rich pastures, Lee, now first connected
With the broad Lake, where mountainous Mont-Blanc
Daily in majesty among the clouds
Smiles, or frowns over the assembled torrents
By Alpine fountains fed, and sends its waters
By the circuitous Arve's impetuous channels
To join the Rhone, that through the narrow gorge
Of Alps and Jura met, in purple stain'd,
Bursts with a fearful roar!--Yet distant countries
Not then, as now, communication held
By beaten tracks, and all the luxuries
Of easy transit, while the missive charge
Of the pen's register'd mirror of the mind
Was slow and interrupted
. Nations now
Mingle almost as brothers of the same
Stock, education, habits, morals, feelings!
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "mirror" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
10/10/2005

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