"He could call forth to his mind's eye, That bright, select society, / Who never, when he ask'd their aid, The pleasing summons disobey'd, / But did the lengthen'd way beguile / Full many an hour and many a mile."

— Combe, William (1742 -1823)


Place of Publication
London
Date
1820
Metaphor
"He could call forth to his mind's eye, That bright, select society, / Who never, when he ask'd their aid, The pleasing summons disobey'd, / But did the lengthen'd way beguile / Full many an hour and many a mile."
Metaphor in Context
Now Syntax did his way pursue As other lonely trav'llers do: But he did this old maxim own, Ne'er to be lonely when alone: For he could call from ev'ry age, The Bard, the Hero and the Sage, From annals of recording fame, He could disclose each fav'rite name, And whether in his easy chair He sat with comtemplative air, Or did, in solemn musings rove Beside the stream or in the grove; Or mounted on his palfrey gay He journeyed onward through the day, He could call forth to his mind's eye, That bright, select society, Who never, when he ask'd their aid, The pleasing summons disobey'd, But did the lengthen'd way beguile Full many an hour and many a mile.
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "eye" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from 1869 edition of the Three Tours. See also The Three Tours of Doctor Syntax (London: A. Murray, 1871). <Link to Hathi Trust>
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
04/17/2006

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