text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"'I burn, I burn, as when thro' ripen'd corn
By driving winds the crackling flames are borne.'
Now, maddening-wild, I curse that fatal night,
Now bless the hour that charm'd my guilty sight.
In vain the Laws their feeble force oppose:
Chain'd at his feet, they groan Love's vanquish'd foes.
In vain Religion meets my shrinking eye:
I dare not combat, but I turn and fly.
Conscience in vain upbraids th'unhallow'd fire.
Love grasps his scorpions--stifled they expire.
Reason drops headlong from his sacred throne.
Your dear idea reigns, and reigns alone;
Each thought intoxicated homage yields,
And riots wanton in forbidden fields.
",2010-10-04 17:39:47 UTC,"""Your dear idea reigns, and reigns alone; / Each thought intoxicated homage yields, / And riots wanton in forbidden fields.""",2004-07-19 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2010-10-04,Inhabitants,"",Reading,8468,3224
"The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds,
That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd
Beside the list'ning peasant's blazing hearth,
Now crowded on his mind in all their rage
Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!
Trembling he stumbled on, and ever rolled
His jealous eyes around. Each waving shrub
Doubl'd his fears, till, horrible to thought!
The sound of hasty steps alarm'd his ear,
Fast hurrying up behind. Sudden he stopt,
And stooping, could discern, with terror struck,
Between him and the welkin's scanty light,
A black gigantic form of human shape,
And formidably arm'd. Ah! who can tell
The horrors dread that at this instant struck
Ralph's frozen frame. His few gray rev'rend hairs
Rose bristling up, and from his aged scalp,
Up-bore the affrighted bonnet. Down he dropt
Beneath th'oppressive load, but gath'ring soon
A little strength, in desperation crawl'd
To reach some neighb'ring shrubs' concealing shade.
(pp. 263-4 in 1790 edition)",2014-02-27 21:35:09 UTC,"""The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds, / That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd / Now crowded on his mind in all their rage / Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!""",2006-03-07 00:00:00 UTC,"",Free Indirect Discourse,,Inhabitants,Part II. -- English Poems.,"Searching ""mind"" and ""crowd"" in HDIS (Poetry); found again ""heart;"" confirmed in ECCO.",8666,3385
"Good Lord, what is Man! For as simple he looks,
Do but try to develop his hooks and his crooks!
With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil,
All in all he's a problem must puzzle the Devil.
On his one ruling passion Sir Pope hugely labors,
That, like th'old Hebrew walking-switch, eats up its neighbours.
Human Nature's his show-box--your friend, would you know him?
Pull the string, Ruling Passion--the picture will show him.
What pity, in rearing so beauteous a system,
One trifling particular--Truth--should have miss'd him!
For, spite of his fine theoretic positions,
Mankind is a science defies definitions.
Some sort all our qualities each to its tribe,
And think Human Nature they truly describe:
Have you found this, or t'other? There's more in the wind,
As by one drunken fellow his comrades you'll find.
But such is the flaw, or the depth of the plan
In the make of that wonderful creature called Man,
No two virtues, whatever relation they claim,
Nor even two different shades of the same,
Though like as was ever twin brother to brother,
Possessing the one shall imply you've the other.
",2009-09-14 19:43:07 UTC,"""Some sort all our qualities each to its tribe, / And think Human Nature they truly describe""",2004-05-20 00:00:00 UTC,Middle Stanzas,Ruling Passion / Family Within,,Inhabitants,•Great anti-metaphor poem. INTEREST.
•This last stanza is interesting and subtle. Family within metaphors.,"Searching ""ruling passion"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15237,5709
"O Gold! thou pois'nous dross, whose subtile pow'r
Can change men's souls, or captive take the will;
Thou, whose fell potency can save or kill,
Illume or darken life's precarious hour.
Thou tipp'st the leaves of fancy's fairest flow'r
With glitt'ring drops: it feels the numbing spell
Creep through each fibre slow; while ev'ry ill
Of sordid mis'ry blossoms to devour.
The bland and lustrous morn of mental grace
Thy touch contaminates: thy sev'ring force
Breaks friendship's charm; bids honour's wreath decay;
Tears the pure blush of love from beauty's face;
Arms bold oppression in her ruthless course:
While the wide groaning world feels thy destructive sway.
(I, pp. 242-243 in 1799 printing)",2013-10-15 17:56:21 UTC,"""O Gold! thou pois'nous dross, whose subtile pow'r / Can change men's souls, or captive take the will.""",2005-07-19 00:00:00 UTC,I've included the entire poem,"",,Inhabitants,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),16068,6069
"The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could percieve.
And particularly they studied the genius of each city & country. placing it under its mental deity.
Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental dieties from their objects: thus began Priesthood.
Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales.
And at length they pronounced that the Gods had orderd such things.
Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.
(Plate 11)",2013-04-25 18:56:30 UTC,"""Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast.""",2013-04-25 18:56:30 UTC,"","",,Inhabitants,"",Reading,20143,7382
"Sonnet LXIV.
Written at Bristol in the Summer of 1794
Here from the restless bed of lingering pain
The languid sufferer seeks the tepid wave,
And feels returning health and hope again
Disperse ""the gathering shadows of the grave!""
And here romantic rocks that boldly swell,
Fringed with green woods, or stain'd with veins of ore,
Call'd native Genius forth, whose Heav'n-taught skill
Charm'd the deep echos of the rifted shore.
But tepid waves, wild scenes, or summer air,
Restore they palsied Fancy, woe-deprest?
Check they the torpid influence of Despair,
Or bid warm Health re-animate the breast;
Where Hope's soft visions have no longer part,
And whose sad inmate--is a broken heart?",2013-06-13 16:05:17 UTC,"""Check they the torpid influence of Despair, / Or bid warm Health re-animate the breast; / Where Hope's soft visions have no longer part, / And whose sad inmate--is a broken heart?""",2013-06-13 16:05:17 UTC,"","",,Inhabitants,"",Reading,20621,7430
"Thou spectre of terrific mien,
Lord of the hopeless heart and hollow eye,
In whose fierce train each form is sees
That drives sick Reason to insanity!
I woo thee with unusual prayer,
""Grim visaged, comfortless Despair:""
Approach; in me a willing victim find,
Who seeks thine iron sway--and calls thee kind!
Ah! hide for ever from my sight
The faithless flatterer Hope--whose pencil, gay,
Portrays some vision of delight,
Then bids the fairy tablet fade away;
While in dire contrast, to mine eyes
Thy phantoms, yet more hideous, rise,
And Memory draws, from Pleasure's wither'd flower,
Corrosives for the heart--of fatal power!
I bid the traitor Love, adieu!
Who to this fond, believing bosom came,
A guest insidious and untrue,
With Pity's soothing voice--in Friendship's name;
The wounds he gave, nor Time shall cure
Nor Reason teach me to endure.
And to that breast mild Patience pleads in vain,
Which feels the curse--of meriting it's pain.
(ll. 1-24, pp. 49-50)",2013-06-13 17:20:28 UTC,"""I bid the traitor Love, adieu! / Who to this fond, believing bosom came, / A guest insidious and untrue, / With Pity's soothing voice--in Friendship's name.""",2013-06-13 17:20:28 UTC,"","",,Inhabitants,"",Reading,20631,7438
"III.
""And what (I said) tho' blasphemy's loud scream
""With that sweet music of deliv'rance strove;
""Tho' all the fierce and drunken passions wove
""A dance more wild than ever maniac's dream;
""Ye storms, that round the dawning east assembled,
""The sun was rising, tho' ye hid his light!""
And when to sooth my soul, that hop'd and trembled.
The dissonance ceas'd, and all seem'd calm and bright;
When France, her front deep-scar'd and gory,
Conceal'd with clust'ring wreaths of glory;
When insupportably advancing,
Her arm made mock'ry of the warrior's ramp,
While, timid looks of fury glancing,
Domestic treason, crush'd beneath her fatal stamp,
Writh'd, like a wounded dragon in his gore;
Then I reproach'd my fears that would not flee,
""And soon (I said) shall wisdom teach her lore
""In the low huts of them that toil and groan!
""And conqu'ring by her happiness alone,
""Shall France compel the nations to be free,
""Till love and joy look round, and call the earth
""their own!""
(pp. 15-16)",2013-11-14 03:49:54 UTC,"""And what (I said) tho' blasphemy's loud scream / With that sweet music of deliv'rance strove; / Tho' all the fierce and drunken passions wove / A dance more wild than ever maniac's dream; / Ye storms, that round the dawning east assembled, / The sun was rising, tho' ye hid his light!"" ",2013-11-14 03:49:54 UTC,"","",,Inhabitants,"",Reading,23192,7769