"Yet, thy moist Clay is pliant to Command; / Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand: / Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel / The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel."
— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1693
Metaphor
"Yet, thy moist Clay is pliant to Command; / Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand: / Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel / The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel."
Metaphor in Context
Yet, thy moist Clay is pliant to Command;
Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand:
Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel
The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel.
But thou hast Land; a Country Seat, secure
By a just Title; costly Furniture;
A Fuming-Pan thy Lares to appease:
What need of Learning when a Man's at ase?
If this be not enough to swell thy Soul,
Then please thy Pride, and search the Herald's Roll:
Where thou shalt find thy famous Pedigree
Drawn from the Root of some old Thuscan Tree;
And thou, a Thousand, off, a Fool of long Degree.
Who, clad in Purple, canst thy Censor greet;
And, loudly, call him Cousin, in the Street.
(pp. 33-4, ll. 38-52)
Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand:
Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel
The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel.
But thou hast Land; a Country Seat, secure
By a just Title; costly Furniture;
A Fuming-Pan thy Lares to appease:
What need of Learning when a Man's at ase?
If this be not enough to swell thy Soul,
Then please thy Pride, and search the Herald's Roll:
Where thou shalt find thy famous Pedigree
Drawn from the Root of some old Thuscan Tree;
And thou, a Thousand, off, a Fool of long Degree.
Who, clad in Purple, canst thy Censor greet;
And, loudly, call him Cousin, in the Street.
(pp. 33-4, ll. 38-52)
Provenance
Browsing in EEBO
Citation
From The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. Made English By Mr. Dryden. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1693). See The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse By Mr. Dryden and Several other Eminent Hands. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1693). <Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
07/11/2013
