"For well you twist the secret chains that bind / With gentle force the captivated mind."
— Lyttleton, George, 1st Baron Lyttleton (1709-1773)
Place of Publication
London
Date
1733
Metaphor
"For well you twist the secret chains that bind / With gentle force the captivated mind."
Metaphor in Context
Thus I, Belinda, would your charms improve,
And form your heart to all the arts of love:
The task were harder to secure my own
Against the power of those already known:
For well you twist the secret chains that bind
With gentle force the captivated mind,
Skill'd every soft attraction to employ,
Each flattering hope, and each alluring joy;
I own your genius, and from you receive
The rules of pleasing, which to you I give.
(p. 149)
And form your heart to all the arts of love:
The task were harder to secure my own
Against the power of those already known:
For well you twist the secret chains that bind
With gentle force the captivated mind,
Skill'd every soft attraction to employ,
Each flattering hope, and each alluring joy;
I own your genius, and from you receive
The rules of pleasing, which to you I give.
(p. 149)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "chain" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
George Lyttleton, "Advice to a Young Lady," The Gentleman's Magazine, no. 27, vol. 3 (March, 1733): 149. <Link to Google Books>
Text from "Advice to a Lady. 1731" in Poems by the Right Honourable the late Lord Lyttleton (Glasgow: Printed by Andrew Foulis, 1777)
Text from "Advice to a Lady. 1731" in Poems by the Right Honourable the late Lord Lyttleton (Glasgow: Printed by Andrew Foulis, 1777)
Date of Entry
07/18/2011
