"Life animal is nurtured by the sun; / Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams. / Life rational subsists on higher food, / Triumphant in His beams who made the day."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"Life animal is nurtured by the sun; / Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams. / Life rational subsists on higher food, / Triumphant in His beams who made the day."
Metaphor in Context
Two kinds of life has double-natured man,
And two of death: the last far more severe.
Life animal is nurtured by the sun;
Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams.
Life rational subsists on higher food,
Triumphant in His beams who made the day
.
When we leave that sun, and are left by this,
'The fate of all who die in stubborn guilt,)
'Tis utter darkness; strictly double death.
We sink by no judicial stroke of Heaven,
But Nature's course; as sure as plummets fall.
Since God or man must alter ere they meet,
(For light and darkness blend not in one sphere,)
'Tis manifest, Lorenzo! who must change.
(ll. 1273-1286, p. 211 in CUP edition)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).

Edward Young, Night the Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).

Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>

Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/12/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.