work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 14:18:43 UTC,"Nor dreadful our transition; though the mind,
An artist at creating self-alarms,
Rich in expedients for inquietude,
Is prone to paint it dreadful. Who can take
Death's portrait true? The tyrant never sat.
Our sketch all random strokes, conjecture all;
Close shuts the Grave, nor tells one single tale.
Death, and his image rising in the brain,
Bear faint resemblance; never are alike:
Fear shakes the pencil; Fancy loves excess;
Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades:
And these the formidable picture draw.
(ll. 49-60, p. 150 in CUP edition)",,20509,"","""Nor dreadful our transition; though the mind, / An artist at creating self-alarms, / Rich in expedients for inquietude, / Is prone to paint it dreadful.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-11 14:18:43 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 14:21:05 UTC,"Nor dreadful our transition; though the mind,
An artist at creating self-alarms,
Rich in expedients for inquietude,
Is prone to paint it dreadful. Who can take
Death's portrait true? The tyrant never sat.
Our sketch all random strokes, conjecture all;
Close shuts the Grave, nor tells one single tale.
Death, and his image rising in the brain,
Bear faint resemblance; never are alike:
Fear shakes the pencil; Fancy loves excess;
Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades:
And these the formidable picture draw.
(ll. 49-60, p. 150 in CUP edition)",,20510,"","""Death, and his image rising in the brain, / Bear faint resemblance; never are alike: / Fear shakes the pencil; Fancy loves excess; / Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades: And these the formidable picture draw.""","",2013-06-11 14:21:05 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 14:22:10 UTC,"What wretched repetition cloys us here!
What periodic potions for the sick,
Distemper'd bodies, and distemper'd minds!
In an eternity what scenes shall strike,
Adventures thicken, novelties surprise!
What webs of wonder shall unravel there!
What full day pour on all the paths of Heaven,
And light the' Almighty's footsteps in the deep!
How shall the blessed day of our discharge
Unwind, at once, the labyrinths of Fate,
And straighten its inextricable maze!
(ll. 153-163, p. 153 in CUP edition)",,20511,"","""What wretched repetition cloys us here! / What periodic potions for the sick, / Distemper'd bodies, and distemper'd minds!""","",2013-06-11 14:22:10 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 14:23:34 UTC,"And chase we still the phantom through the fire,
O'er bog, and brake, and precipice, till death?
And toil we still for sublunary pay,
Defy the dangers of the field and flood?
Or, spider-like, spin out our precious all,
Our more than vitals spin (if no regard
To great futurity) in curious webs
Of subtle thought, and exquisite design,
(Fine net-work of the brain!) to catch a fly,
The momentary buzz of vain renown,
A name, a mortal immortality?
(ll. 204-214, p. 154 in CUP edition)",,20512,"","""Or, spider-like, spin out our precious all, / Our more than vitals spin (if no regard / To great futurity) in curious webs / Of subtle thought, and exquisite design, / (Fine net-work of the brain!) to catch a fly, / The momentary buzz of vain renown, / A name, a mortal immortality?""",Animals,2013-06-11 14:23:34 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 16:04:58 UTC,"Mark well, as foreign as these subjects seem,
What close connexion ties them to my theme.
First, what is true ambition? The pursuit
Of glory, nothing less than man can share.
Were they as vain as gaudy-minded man,
As flatulent with fumes of self-applause,
Their arts and conquests animals might boast,
And claim their laurel crowns as well as we;
But not celestial. Here we stand alone;
As in our form, distinct, pre-eminent:
If prone in thought, our stature is our shame,
And man should blush his forehead meets the skies.
The Visible and Present are for brutes,
A slender portion, and a narrow bound!
These Reason, with an energy Divine,
O'erleaps, and claims the Future and Unseen;
The vast Unseen, the Future fathomless!
When the great soul buoys up to this high point,
Leaving gross Nature's sediments below,
Then, and then only, Adam's offspring quits
The sage and hero of the fields and woods,
Asserts his rank, and rises into man.
This is ambition: this is human fire.
(ll. 234-256, p. 155 in CUP edition)",,20513,"","""These Reason, with an energy Divine, / O'erleaps, and claims the Future and Unseen; / The vast Unseen, the Future fathomless! / When the great soul buoys up to this high point, / Leaving gross Nature's sediments below, / Then, and then only, Adam's offspring quits / The sage and hero of the fields and woods, / Asserts his rank, and rises into man.""","",2013-06-11 16:04:58 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 16:06:35 UTC,"Genius and Art, Ambition's boasted wings,
Our boast but ill deserve. A feeble aid!
Dædalian engin'ry! if these alone
Assist our flight, Fame's flight is Glory's fall.
Heart-merit wanting, mount we ne'er so high,
Our height is but the gibbet of our name.
A celebrated wretch when I behold,
When I behold a genius bright and base,
Of towering talents, and terrestrial aims;
Methinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere,
The glorious fragments of a soul immortal,
With rubbish mix'd, and glittering in the dust.
Struck at the splendid, melancholy sight
At once compassion soft, and envy, rise---
But wherefore envy? Talents angel-bright,
If wanting worth, are shining instruments
In false Ambition's hand, to finish faults
Illustrious, and give Infamy renown.
(ll. 259-276, p. 156 in CUP edition)",,20514,"","""When I behold a genius bright and base, / Of towering talents, and terrestrial aims; / Methinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere, / The glorious fragments of a soul immortal, / With rubbish mix'd, and glittering in the dust.""","",2013-06-11 16:06:35 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 16:07:38 UTC,"Souls truly great dart forward, on the wing
Of just Ambition, to the grand result,
The curtain's fall; there see the buskin'd chief
Unshod behind this momentary scene,
Reduced to his own stature, low or high,
As vice, or virtue, sinks him, or sublimes;
And laugh at this fantastic mummery,
This antic prelude of grotesque events,
Where dwarfs are often stilted, and betray
A littleness of soul by worlds o'er-run,
And nations laid in blood. Dread sacrifice
To Christian pride! which had with horror shock'd
The darkest Pagans, offer'd to their gods.
(ll. 3470-359, pp. 157-8 in CUP edition)",,20515,"","""Souls truly great dart forward, on the wing / Of just Ambition, to the grand result, / The curtain's fall.""","",2013-06-11 16:07:38 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 16:09:18 UTC,"Ambition! powerful source of good and ill!
Thy strength in man, like length of wing in birds,
When disengaged from earth, with greater ease
And swifter flight, transports us to the skies:
By toys entangled, or in guilt bemired,
It turns a curse; it is our chain and scourge
In this dark dungeon, where confined we lie,
Close-grated by the sordid bars of sense;
All prospect of eternity shut out;
And, but for execution, ne'er set free.
(ll. 399-408, p. 159 in CUP edition)",,20516,"","""By toys entangled, or in guilt bemired, / [Ambition] turns a curse; it is our chain and scourge / In this dark dungeon, where confined we lie, / Close-grated by the sordid bars of sense; / All prospect of eternity shut out; / And, but for execution, ne'er set free.""",Fetters and Rooms,2013-06-11 16:09:18 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"","Reading; found again in Marjorie Nicholson's Newton Demands the Muse (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1946), 151.",2013-06-11 16:12:02 UTC,"With error in ambition justly charged,
Find we Lorenzo wiser in his wealth?
What, if thy rental I reform, and draw
An inventory new to set thee right?
Where thy true treasure? Gold says, ""Not in me;""
And, ""Not in me,"" the diamond. Gold is poor;
India's insolvent: seek it in thyself;
Seek in thy naked self, and find it there;
In being so descended, form'd, endow'd;
Sky-born, sky-guided, sky-returning race!
Erect, immortal, rational, Divine!
In senses, which inherit earth and heavens;
Enjoy the various riches Nature yields;
Far nobler! give the riches they enjoy;
Give taste to fruits, and harmony to groves,
Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright sire;
Take-in, at once, the landscape of the world,
At a small inlet, which a grain might close,
And half-create the wondrous world they see.
Our senses, as our reason, are Divine.
But for the magic organ's powerful charm,
Earth were a rude, uncolour'd chaos still.
Objects are but the' occasion: ours the' exploit;
Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint,
Which Nature's admirable picture draws,
And beautifies Creation's ample dome.
Like Milton's Eve, when gazing on the lake,
Man makes the matchless image man admires.
Say then, shall man, his thoughts all sent abroad,
(Superior wonders in himself forgot,)
His admiration waste on objects round,
When Heaven makes him the soul of all he sees?
Absurd, not rare! so great, so mean, is man!
(ll. 409-441, pp. 159-60 in CUP edition)",,20517,"","""In senses, which inherit earth and heavens; / Enjoy the various riches Nature yields; / Far nobler! give the riches they enjoy; / Give taste to fruits, and harmony to groves, / Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright sire; / Take-in, at once, the landscape of the world, / At a small inlet, which a grain might close, / And half-create the wondrous world they see.""",Rooms,2014-07-25 18:52:57 UTC,Night the Sixth
7408,"",Reading,2013-06-11 17:05:36 UTC,"With error in ambition justly charged,
Find we Lorenzo wiser in his wealth?
What, if thy rental I reform, and draw
An inventory new to set thee right?
Where thy true treasure? Gold says, ""Not in me;""
And, ""Not in me,"" the diamond. Gold is poor;
India's insolvent: seek it in thyself;
Seek in thy naked self, and find it there;
In being so descended, form'd, endow'd;
Sky-born, sky-guided, sky-returning race!
Erect, immortal, rational, Divine!
In senses, which inherit earth and heavens;
Enjoy the various riches Nature yields;
Far nobler! give the riches they enjoy;
Give taste to fruits, and harmony to groves,
Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright sire;
Take-in, at once, the landscape of the world,
At a small inlet, which a grain might close,
And half-create the wondrous world they see.
Our senses, as our reason, are Divine.
But for the magic organ's powerful charm,
Earth were a rude, uncolour'd chaos still.
Objects are but the' occasion: ours the' exploit;
Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint,
Which Nature's admirable picture draws,
And beautifies Creation's ample dome.
Like Milton's Eve, when gazing on the lake,
Man makes the matchless image man admires.
Say then, shall man, his thoughts all sent abroad,
(Superior wonders in himself forgot,)
His admiration waste on objects round,
When Heaven makes him the soul of all he sees?
Absurd, not rare! so great, so mean, is man!
(ll. 409-441, pp. 159-60 in CUP edition)",,20518,"","""Our senses, as our reason, are Divine. / But for the magic organ's powerful charm, / Earth were a rude, uncolour'd chaos still. / Objects are but the' occasion: ours the' exploit; / Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint, / Which Nature's admirable picture draws, / And beautifies Creation's ample dome.""","",2013-06-11 17:05:36 UTC,Night the Sixth