"Fond he surveys thy mild maternal face, / His bashful eye still kindling as he views, / And, while thy lenient arm supports his pace, / With beating heart the upland path pursues: / The path that leads, where, hung sublime, / And seen afar, youth's gallant trophies, bright / In Fancy's rainbow ray, invite / His wingy nerves to climb."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)


Work Title
Date
1760, 1776
Metaphor
"Fond he surveys thy mild maternal face, / His bashful eye still kindling as he views, / And, while thy lenient arm supports his pace, / With beating heart the upland path pursues: / The path that leads, where, hung sublime, / And seen afar, youth's gallant trophies, bright / In Fancy's rainbow ray, invite / His wingy nerves to climb."
Metaphor in Context
II. 1.
When first on Childhood's eager gaze
Life's varied landscape, stretch'd immense around,
Starts out of night profound,
Thy voice incites to tempt th' untrodden maze.
Fond he surveys thy mild maternal face,
His bashful eye still kindling as he views,
And, while thy lenient arm supports his pace,
With beating heart the upland path pursues:
The path that leads, where, hung sublime,
And seen afar, youth's gallant trophies, bright
In Fancy's rainbow ray, invite
His wingy nerves to climb
.
(pp. 54-5, ll. 42-53)
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
At least 13 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1760, 1761, 1762, 1776, 1779, 1784, 1790, 1795, 1797, 1799).Collected in A Collection of Poems, The British Poets, The Muse's Pocket Companion, and Bell's Classical Arrangment of Fugitive Poetry.

See Original Poems and Translations. By James Beattie, A.M. (London [i.e. Aberdeen?]: Printed [by F. Douglas, Aberdeen?]; and sold by A. Millar in The Strand, 1760). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>

Also Original Poems and Translations. By James Beattie, A.M. (Aberdeen: Printed by F. Douglas; and sold by him for the benefit of the author, and in London by A. Millar, in the Strand, 1761). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>

Also appears in Poems on Several Subjects. By James Beattie, new edition, corrected (London: Printed for W. Johnston, 1766). <Link to Google Books>

Text from Poems on Several Occasions, By James Beattie (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Creech, 1776). <Link to ESTC>

Date of Entry
07/02/2013

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