"The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain, / Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain / A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train."
— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Sam. Buckley
Date
1711
Metaphor
"The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain, / Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain / A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train."
Metaphor in Context
In vain you hope Illustrious Youth will shine
Beneath th' Æquator, or th' Ecliptick Line;
Where Sun-burnt Nations, of a swarthy Skin,
Are fully'd o'er with blacker Clouds within.
Their Spirits suffer by too hot a Ray,
And their dry Brain grows dark with too much Day.
For while the Solar Orb, with Heat intense,
Concocts their Gold, it dissipates their Sense:
So much his Beam the Nerves of Moisture drains,
So draws transpiring Vapours from the Veins
Thro' gaping Pores, the Channels can't diffuse
O'er the parcht Head, sufficient gentle Dews.
Their Spirits burning with too fierce a Fire
Unqualify'd by proper Flegme, acquire
A Disposition so inept for Thought,
Few just Perceptions in their Minds are wrought.
The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain,
Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain
A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train.
Beneath th' Æquator, or th' Ecliptick Line;
Where Sun-burnt Nations, of a swarthy Skin,
Are fully'd o'er with blacker Clouds within.
Their Spirits suffer by too hot a Ray,
And their dry Brain grows dark with too much Day.
For while the Solar Orb, with Heat intense,
Concocts their Gold, it dissipates their Sense:
So much his Beam the Nerves of Moisture drains,
So draws transpiring Vapours from the Veins
Thro' gaping Pores, the Channels can't diffuse
O'er the parcht Head, sufficient gentle Dews.
Their Spirits burning with too fierce a Fire
Unqualify'd by proper Flegme, acquire
A Disposition so inept for Thought,
Few just Perceptions in their Minds are wrought.
The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain,
Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain
A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train.
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 2 entries in the ESTC (1711, 1720)
Richard Blackmore, The Nature of Man. A Poem. In Three Books. (London: Sam. Buckley, 1711). <Link to ECCO>
Richard Blackmore, The Nature of Man. A Poem. In Three Books. (London: Sam. Buckley, 1711). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
08/28/2005
