"Sorrow renounces latitude of range: / Dwells in confinement's cave; where thought sits chain'd / Muses are shunn'd: and horror's winking lamp."
— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the Benefit of the Family
Date
1753
Metaphor
"Sorrow renounces latitude of range: / Dwells in confinement's cave; where thought sits chain'd / Muses are shunn'd: and horror's winking lamp."
Metaphor in Context
Shall it be Sorrow's energetic plaint,
That groans away the sun, and lends new gloom
To midnight's mournful umbrage? Tim'd too well,
Too lately, Albion's boreal wastes had wept
The suited theme: when tears, from rash revolt,
Wash'd ruthless prisons: when th'accessless wilds
Of bleak-brow'd mountains shriek'd, with vocal woe;
Mothers and Orphan's cries! whom famine found,
Where only famine cou'd: Despair's pale tribe!
Weeping, in death's chill grasp, their own unfelt,
Some past or future fate, of friend more dear;
Why shou'd the gen'rous Muse insult the fall'n?
Why not deplore the pangs of hostile pain?
Just if they thought their cause, their crime seem'd faith.
Guiltless in will, by taste involv'd in wrong,
From educative custom's devious warp,
Spare the persisting blind: unhoping grace:
Trustless of regal virtues: erring on
From doubt of mercy. For, alas! no voice
Of truth, in desarts heard, had taught 'em, Kings,
Who last can fear offence, can, first, forgive.
Paint, then, their pity'd anguish: nobly feel,
To make sublimely felt, this brave man's test:
That hearts, unshaken by resister's rage,
Are conquer'd by their sorrow.--Vain attempt!
Spread the sonorous wing for flights of joy.
Sorrow renounces latitude of range:
Dwells in confinement's cave; where thought sits chain'd,
Muses are shunn'd: and horror's winking lamp.
Ghastlying night's ebon eye, sees woes on woes,
Tear following tear, sigh echoing sigh, combin'd,
Move in close consonance of sist'ring sound.
That groans away the sun, and lends new gloom
To midnight's mournful umbrage? Tim'd too well,
Too lately, Albion's boreal wastes had wept
The suited theme: when tears, from rash revolt,
Wash'd ruthless prisons: when th'accessless wilds
Of bleak-brow'd mountains shriek'd, with vocal woe;
Mothers and Orphan's cries! whom famine found,
Where only famine cou'd: Despair's pale tribe!
Weeping, in death's chill grasp, their own unfelt,
Some past or future fate, of friend more dear;
Why shou'd the gen'rous Muse insult the fall'n?
Why not deplore the pangs of hostile pain?
Just if they thought their cause, their crime seem'd faith.
Guiltless in will, by taste involv'd in wrong,
From educative custom's devious warp,
Spare the persisting blind: unhoping grace:
Trustless of regal virtues: erring on
From doubt of mercy. For, alas! no voice
Of truth, in desarts heard, had taught 'em, Kings,
Who last can fear offence, can, first, forgive.
Paint, then, their pity'd anguish: nobly feel,
To make sublimely felt, this brave man's test:
That hearts, unshaken by resister's rage,
Are conquer'd by their sorrow.--Vain attempt!
Spread the sonorous wing for flights of joy.
Sorrow renounces latitude of range:
Dwells in confinement's cave; where thought sits chain'd,
Muses are shunn'd: and horror's winking lamp.
Ghastlying night's ebon eye, sees woes on woes,
Tear following tear, sigh echoing sigh, combin'd,
Move in close consonance of sist'ring sound.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "thought" and "cave" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1753, 1754).
Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, Esq; in Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, and of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With an Essay on the Art of Acting. (London: Printed for the benefit of the family, 1753). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, Esq; in Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, and of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With an Essay on the Art of Acting. (London: Printed for the benefit of the family, 1753). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
01/18/2006
Date of Review
05/23/2011
