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Date: 1726, 1753

"As fire, by nature, climbs direct, and bright, / And beams, in spotless rays, a shining light; / But if some gross obstruction stops its way, / Smokes in low curls, and scents the sullied day: / So love, itself, untainted, and refin'd, / Borrows a tincture, from the colour'd mind."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

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Date: 1726

"My breast, O WALPOLE, glows with grateful fire / The streams of Royal bounty, turn'd by Thee, / Refresh the dry domains of poesy."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

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Date: 1726

"NOW, giddy Youth, whom headlong Passions fire, / Rouse the wild Game, and stain the guiltless Grove, / With Violence, and Death; yet call it Sport."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

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Date: 1726, 1753

"Excited, thus, the smother'd fire, at length, / Bursts into blaze, and burns, with open strength: / That image, which, before, but sooth'd the mind, / Now lords it there, and rages, unconfined"

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

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Date: 1726, 1753

"But I have err'd; and, with delirious aim, / Would picture motion, and imprison flame. / He, who can light'ning's flash, to colours, bind, / May paint love's influence, on the burning mind."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

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Date: 1728

Strait the fierce Storm involves his Mind anew, / Flames thro' the Nerves, and boils along the Veins; / While anxious Doubt distracts the tortur'd Heart; / For even the sad Assurance of his Fears / Were Heaven to what he feels."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

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Date: 1728

Say, "How Fancy every Shape puts on? / How kindling Sparks her Form compose, / And whence the constant-shining Train, / That Mem'ry, or Experience shows?"

— Pattison, William (1706-1727)

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Date: 1730

"As thus we talk'd, / Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale / That portion of divinity, that ray / Of purest Heaven, which lights the glorious flame / Of patriots, and of heroes."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

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Date: 1730

"But if doom'd, / In powerless humble fortune, to repress / These ardent risings of the kindling soul; / Then, even superior to ambition, we / Would learn the private virtues."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

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Date: 1730, 1744, 1746

"O'er all the soul his sacred influence breathes!/ Inflames imagination; through the breast / Infuses every tenderness; and far / Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

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