"Homer's Notion of the State of the Dead, was something like the ancient Philosophy of the Aegyptians, which gave the Soul a Shape like the Body, and that it was only a Receptacle of the Mind; the Mind they made to be the sublime and superior Part, and that only."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed: and sold by J. Roberts
Date
1727
Metaphor
"Homer's Notion of the State of the Dead, was something like the ancient Philosophy of the Aegyptians, which gave the Soul a Shape like the Body, and that it was only a Receptacle of the Mind; the Mind they made to be the sublime and superior Part, and that only."
Metaphor in Context
2. Homer's Notion of the State of the Dead, was something like the ancient Philosophy of the Aegyptians, which gave the Soul a Shape like the Body, and that it was only a Receptacle of the Mind; the Mind they made to be the sublime and superior Part, and that only.
(p. 172)
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1727, 1728). For a publication history, see Rodney Baine's 1962 essay, "Daniel Defoe and 'The History and Reality of Apparitions.'" First edition, published by J. Roberts, appeared anonymously on March 18, 1727. Second issues were sold the same year by A. Millar. The 1735 edition, reissued in 1738 and 1740.

Text from An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions: Being an Account of What They are, and What They are Not; Whence They Come, and Whence They Come Not. (London: Printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1727). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/16/2013

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