work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4167,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-05-17 00:00:00 UTC,"Objects, which thro' the Senses make their Way,
And just Impressions to the Soul convey,
Give her Occasion first her self to move,
And to exert her Hatred, or her Love.
Ideas, which to some impulsive seem,
Act not upon the Mind, but That on them.
When she to foreign Objects Audience gives,
Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives,
As these Perceptions we Ideas name,
From her own Pow'r and active Nature came,
So when discern'd by Intellectual Light,
Her self her various Passions does excite,
To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite:
To shun the first, the latter to procure,
She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.
She can their various Habitudes survey,
Debate their Fitness, and their Merit weigh,
And while the Means suggested she compares,
She to the Rivals This or That prefers.
(VII, ll. 446-464, pp. 338-9)
",,10781,•INTEREST. RICH passage. I've cut and pasted the whole book for study.,"""When she to foreign Objects Audience gives, / Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives, / As these Perceptions we Ideas name, / From her own Pow'r and active Nature came, / So when discern'd by Intellectual Light, / Her self her various Passions does excite, / To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite: /
To shun the first, the latter to procure, / She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.""",Empire and Inhabitants,2013-08-07 14:35:43 UTC,Book VII
4685,Dualism,Reading,2009-09-14 19:36:56 UTC,"A DIALOGUE
Says Body to Mind, ''Tis amazing to see,
We're so nearly related yet never agree,
But lead a most wrangling strange sort of life,
As great plagues to each other as husband and wife.
The fault's all your own, who, with flagrant oppression,
Encroach every day on my lawful possession.
The best room in my house you have seized for your own,
And turned the whole tenement quite upside down,
While you hourly call in a disorderly crew
Of vagabond rogues, who have nothing to do
But to run in and out, hurry-scurry, and keep
Such a horrible uproar, I can't get to sleep.
There's my kitchen sometimes is as empty as sound,
I call for my servants, not one's to be found:
They are all sent out on your ladyship's errand,
To fetch some more riotous guests in, I warrant!
And since things are growing, I see, worse and worse,
I'm determined to force you to alter your course.'
Poor Mind, who heard all with extreme moderation,
Thought it now time to speak, and make her allegation:
''Tis I that, methinks, have most cause to complain,
Who am cramped and confined like a slave in a chain.
I did but step out, on some weighty affairs,
To visit last night, my good friends in the stars,
When, before I was got half as high as the moon,
You despatched Pain and Languor to hurry me down;
Vi & Armis they seized me, in midst of my flight,
And shut me in caverns as dark as the night.'
''Twas no more,' replied Body, 'than what you deserved;
While you rambled abroad, I at home was half starved:
And, unless I had closely confined you in hold,
You had left me to perish with hunger and cold.'
'I've a friend,' answers Mind, 'who, though slow, is yet sure,
And will rid me at last of your insolent power:
Will knock down your walls, the whole fabric demolish,
And at once your strong holds and my slavery abolish:
And while in your dust your dull ruins decay,
I'll snap off my chains and fly freely away.'
(p. 168)",2004-11-22,12397,"","""I [the mind] did but step out, on some weighty affairs, / To visit last night, my good friends in the stars, / When, before I was got half as high as the moon, / You despatched Pain and Languor to hurry me down; / Vi & Armis they seized me, in midst of my flight, / And shut me in caverns as dark as the night.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-04 15:10:00 UTC,I've included the complete poem
5366,"",HDIS (Poetry),2004-01-06 00:00:00 UTC,"...But more lovely still
Is nature's charm, where to the full consent
Of complicated members, to the bloom
Of colour, and the vital change of growth,
Life's holy flame and piercing sense are given,
And active motion speaks the temper'd soul:
So moves the bird of Juno; so the steed
With rival ardour beats the dusty plain,
And faithful dogs with eager airs of joy
Salute their fellows. Thus doth beauty dwell
There most conspicuous, even in outward shape,
Where dawns the high expression of a mind:
By steps conducting our inraptur'd search
To that eternal origin, whose power,
Through all the unbounded symmetry of things,
Like rays effulging from the parent sun,
This endless mixture of her charms diffus'd.
Mind, mind alone, (bear witness, earth and heaven!)
The living fountains in itself contains
Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand,
Sit paramount the Graces; here inthron'd,
Coelestial Venus, with divinest airs,
Invites the soul to never-fading joy.
Look then abroad through nature, to the range
Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres
Wheeling unshaken through the void immense;
And speak, o man! does this capacious scene
With half that kindling majesty dilate
Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose
Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate,
Amid the croud of patriots; and his arm
Aloft extending, like eternal Jove
When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud
On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,
And bade the father of his country, hail!
For lo! the tyrant prostrate on the dust,
And Rome again is free! Is aught so fair
In all the dewy landscapes of the spring,
In the bright eye of Hesper or the morn,
In nature's fairest forms, is aught so fair
As virtuous friendship? as the candid blush
Of him who strives with fortune to be just?
The graceful tear that streams for others woes?
Or the mild majesty of private life,
Where peace with ever-blooming olive crowns
The gate; where honour's liberal hands effuse
Unenvied treasures, and the snowy wings
Of innocence and love protect the scene?
Once more search, undismay'd, the dark profound
Where nature works in secret; view the beds
Of mineral treasure, and the eternal vault
That bounds the hoary ocean; trace the forms
Of atoms moving with incessant change
Their elemental round; behold the seeds
Of being, and the energy of life
Kindling the mass with ever-active flame:
Then to the secrets of the working mind
Attentive turn; from dim oblivion call
Her fleet, ideal band; and bid them, go!
Break through time's barrier, and o'ertake the hour
That saw the heavens created: then declare
If aught were found in those external scenes
To move thy wonder now. For what are all
The forms which brute, unconscious matter wears,
Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts?
Not reaching to the heart, soon feeble grows
The superficial impulse; dull their charms,
And satiate soon, and pall the languid eye.
Not so the moral species, nor the powers
Of genius and design; the ambitious mind
There sees herself: by these congenial forms
Touch'd and awaken'd, with intenser act
She bends each nerve, and meditates well-pleas'd
Her features in the mirror. For of all
The inhabitants of earth, to man alone
Creative wisdom gave to lift his eye
To truth's eternal measures; thence to frame
The sacred laws of action and of will,
Discerning justice from unequal deeds,
And temperance from folly. But beyond
This energy of truth, whose dictates bind
Assenting reason, the benignant sire,
To deck the honour'd paths of just and good,
Has added bright imagination's rays:
Where virtue, rising from the awful depth
Of truth's mysterious bosom, doth forsake
The unadorn'd condition of her birth;
And dress'd by fancy in ten thousand hues,
Assumes a various feature, to attract,
With charms responsive to each gazer's eye,
The hearts of men. Amid his rural walk,
The ingenuous youth, whom solitude inspires
With purest wishes, from the pensive shade
Beholds her moving, like a virgin-muse
That wakes her lyre to some indulgent theme
Of harmony and wonder: while among
The herd of servile minds, her strenuous form
Indignant flashes on the patriot's eye,
And through the rolls of memory appeals
To ancient honour, or in act serene,
Yet watchful, raises the majestic sword
Of public power, from dark ambition's reach
To guard the sacred volume of the laws.
(Bk. I, ll. 464-566, pp. 35-40)",2011-06-13,14418,"","""But beyond / This energy of truth, whose dictates bind / Assenting reason, the benignant sire, / To deck the honour'd paths of just and good, / Has added bright imagination's rays.""",Inhabitants,2011-06-13 15:20:06 UTC,Book I
4113,"",Reading,2010-02-05 18:00:50 UTC," Nor let the Private Spirit here oppose
With Canting Terms, and Sniv'ling thro' the Nose;
Who tho' it most reviles the Papal Sin,
Sets up a like unfailing Judge within.
Each Sectarist in his Breast believes he there
Has all that Popes ascribe to their Unerring Chair;
And, Unappealable, can there decide
All Truth,--His own Illuminated Guide.
But certainly (if I may Judge for one)
The Mind is best by what it utters known:
If Fau'tless they can live, it follows, too,
They're so in what they Preach as well as what they do:
But in this Point we need but only here
Their Holding forth, and the Conviction's clear.
What e'er they boast of Supernatural Light,
There's little taught but Prejudice and Spite:
One set of Blockheads vending Fustian here,
Another Senseless Class inverting there
Clearness to Doubt, and Comfort to Despair.
So strange a blending we of Doctrines view,
So vilely do they Scriptures dash and brew,
That no Belief is wanting--But the True.
Whatever from their Guide the Rout requires,
All Sense he darkens, and all Ears he tires,
Yet Impudently says he speaks as God Inspires:
Whereas His Spirit Nothing does dictate
But what is Wisdom, Congruous, Fau'tless, Fate,
Unchang'd, Immortal, and Immaculate.
A Glimpse we have of it indeed, a Ray
That like the Magi's Star does point the Way,
And shew, among Opinion's dangerous Shelves,
W'are not in things too deep to rest upon our Selves.
His Spirit all sustains, and all does see;
There's nothing else Infallibilitie.
But grant he were dispos'd that Gift to give,
What Mortal Mind's Capacious to receive?
The Burst of Glory wou'd consume our Frame,
As Wings of Flies singe in a Pow'rful Flame.
Enough it is, and shou'd all Doubt decide,
That He has left the Scriptures for our Guide
Dictated by that Spirit, and contain
All Precepts, needful to Salvation, plain.
For Points Abstruse lie out of Human Sight,
And while vain Men wou'd make that Darkness Light,
And, big with Notion into Secrets pry
That have forbid Access to Mortal Eye,
They weave themselves in their own Web so close,
Nor Falshood, Truth, nor Wit can get 'em loose;
From this to that for ever whirl'd about;
Uneasy, in Disputes; yet more Uneasy, out.",,17704,"","""Each Sectarist in his Breast believes he there / Has all that Popes ascribe to their Unerring Chair; / And, Unappealable, can there decide / All Truth,--His own Illuminated Guide.""",Court,2010-02-05 18:00:50 UTC,""
4257,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2010-05-20 17:01:56 UTC,"When first to Think your active Mind essay'd,
And young Ideas in your Fancy play'd,
While dawning Reason's unexperienc'd Ray
Drew a faint Scetch of Intellectual Day,
Your Parents, who the Laws of Heav'n revere,
And make Immortal Bliss their pious Care,
Assiduous strove by mild Instructive Light
To form your pliant Infancy aright.
Knowledge Divine they by degrees bestow'd,
And with blest Seed your Heart industrious sow'd,
Whence verdant Issues soon began to shoot;
A Bloom ensu'd, that promis'd generous Fruit.
Drawn by their Pray'r, from Heav'n descending Dews
Cheer the fair Plant, and Heat Divine infuse:
While watchful they destroy'd the springing Weeds,
Baneful to Virtue, which our Bosom breeds,
Nature's spontaneous Growth, that no Assistant needs.
(ll. 1-17)",,17805,"","""When first to Think your active Mind essay'd, / And young Ideas in your Fancy play'd, / While dawning Reason's unexperienc'd Ray / Drew a faint Scetch of Intellectual Day, / Your Parents, who the Laws of Heav'n revere, / And make Immortal Bliss their pious Care, / Assiduous strove by mild Instructive Light / To form your pliant Infancy aright.""","",2010-05-20 17:01:56 UTC,""
6964,Mind's Eye,Reading,2011-06-23 04:17:33 UTC,"Ye pale Inhabitants of Night,
Before my intellectual Sight
In solemn Pomp ascend:
O tell how trifling now appears
The Train of idle Hopes and Fears
That varying Life attend.
Ye faithless Idols of our Sense,
Here own how vain your fond Pretence,
Ye empty Names of Joy!
Your transient Forms like Shadows pass,
Frail Offspring of the magic Glass,
Before the mental Eye.
The dazzling Colours, falsely bright,
Attract the gazing vulgar Sight
With superficial State:
Thro' Reason's clearer Optics view'd,
How stript of all it's Pomp, how rude
Appears the painted Cheat.
(pp. 80-1)",,18775,"","Melancholy's ""transient Forms like Shadows pass, / Frail Offspring of the magic Glass, / Before the mental Eye.""",Mirror,2014-07-15 16:04:26 UTC,""
7171,"","Searching ""dance"" and ""idea"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-01-19 17:37:10 UTC,"Thanks to the generous hand that plac'd me here,
Fast by the fountains of the silver Cray,
Who leading to the Thames his tribute clear,
Through the still valley winds his secret way.
Yet from his lowly bed with transport sees
In fair exposure noblest villas rise,
Hamlets embosom'd deep in antient trees,
And spires that point with reverence to the skies.
O lovely dale! luxuriant with delight!
O woodland hills! that gently rising swell;
O streams! whose murmurs soft repose invite;
Where peace and joy and rich abundance dwell.
How shall my slender reed your praise resound
In numbers worthy of the polish'd ear?
What powers of strong expression can be found
To thank the generous hand that plac'd me here:
That gave each requisite of blissful life;
Sweet leisure in sequester'd shades of Kent,
The softening virtues of a faithful wife,
And competence well sorted with content.
For these, if I forget my patron's praise,
While bright ideas dance upon my mind,
Ne'er may these eyes behold auspicious days,
May friends prove faithless, and the Muse unkind.
(pp. 70-1)",,19462,CITED in ENTRY,"""For these, if I forget my patron's praise, / While bright ideas dance upon my mind, / Ne'er may these eyes behold auspicious days, / May friends prove faithless, and the Muse unkind.""",Inhabitants,2014-03-09 15:00:44 UTC,""
4909,"",Reading at the Folger Library,2012-03-05 17:31:36 UTC,"Love is intense Desire, by rev'rence, check'd;
'Tis hope's hot transport, streak'd with fear's respect:
'Tis passion's every soul-felt power, disjoin'd,
'Tis all th' assembled train's whole force, combin'd.
'Tis like soft air, through which admitted light
Peoples pleas'd fancy, and lends shape to sight:
Yet, like that air, disturb'd, man's quiet breaks,
Tempests his reason, and his triumph shakes.
",,19635,(page 18 in first edition),"Love ""'Tis like soft air, through which admitted light / Peoples pleas'd fancy, and lends shape to sight: / Yet, like that air, disturb'd, man's quiet breaks, / Tempests his reason, and his triumph shakes.""","",2012-03-05 17:31:36 UTC,""
7484,"",Reading,2013-06-21 13:52:26 UTC,"Far-fall'n ALEXIS, who so ill aspir'd,
Sick of successless War, from Wounds retir'd,
Where, while, in Sleep, his Sorrows ebb'd away,
And, hush'd in Darkness, Indignation lay;
Fancy, fair Mistress of the Poet's Mind,
For ever changing, yet, for ever kind;
Soft, o'er his Dreams, her formful Radiance shed,
And his rapt Soul thro' Heaven's thin Purlieus led;
Seated beside the Star-invading Dame,
Whose Steeds, Wind-footed, paw'd the lambent Flame,
High, as a Widow'd Lover's Grief can climb,
Her Air-built Chariot rose, and hung sublime.
(pp. 16-17)",,21081,"","""Fancy, fair Mistress of the Poet's Mind, / For ever changing, yet, for ever kind; / Soft, o'er his Dreams, her formful Radiance shed, / And his rapt Soul thro' Heaven's thin Purlieus led; / Seated beside the Star-invading Dame, / Whose Steeds, Wind-footed, paw'd the lambent Flame, / High, as a Widow'd Lover's Grief can climb, / Her Air-built Chariot rose, and hung sublime.""","",2013-06-21 13:52:26 UTC,""
7665,"",Reading,2013-09-02 03:15:46 UTC,"No man is happy till he thinks on earth
There breathes not a more happy than himself:
Then Envy dies, and Love o'erflows on all;
And Love o'erflowing makes an angel here.
Such angels all, entitled to repose
On Him who governs fate: though Tempest frowns,
Though Nature shakes, how soft to lean on Heaven!
To lean on Him on whom archangels lean!
With inward eyes, and silent as the grave,
They stand collecting every beam of thought,
Till their hearts kindle with Divine delight;
For all their thoughts, like angels seen of old
In Israel's dream, come from, and go to, heaven:
Hence are they studious of sequester'd scenes;
While noise and dissipation comfort thee.
(pp. 173-4, ll. 935-49)",,22636,"","""With inward eyes, and silent as the grave, / They stand collecting every beam of thought, / Till their hearts kindle with Divine delight; / For all their thoughts, like angels seen of old / In Israel's dream, come from, and go to, heaven.""",Inhabitants,2013-09-02 03:15:46 UTC,Night the Eighth