"The remainder of this speech is worth quoting, both on account of the fine poetical imagery it contains, and in order to shew the strong terror which guilt had impressed on his mind, by his invoking even inanimate matter not to inform against him."
— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1775
Metaphor
"The remainder of this speech is worth quoting, both on account of the fine poetical imagery it contains, and in order to shew the strong terror which guilt had impressed on his mind, by his invoking even inanimate matter not to inform against him."
Metaphor in Context
The remainder of this speech is worth quoting, both on account of the fine poetical imagery it contains, and in order to shew the strong terror which guilt had impressed on his mind, by his invoking even inanimate matter not to inform against him.
Now o'er one half the world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; now Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered Murder,
Alarum'd by his centinel, the wolf †,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
Like Tarquin's theft ‡, gliding tow'rd his design ‖,
Moves like a ghost--Thou sound and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my where-about,
And take the present horror from the time ¶,
Which now suits with it.
(p. 412)
Now o'er one half the world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; now Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered Murder,
Alarum'd by his centinel, the wolf †,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
Like Tarquin's theft ‡, gliding tow'rd his design ‖,
Moves like a ghost--Thou sound and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my where-about,
And take the present horror from the time ¶,
Which now suits with it.
(p. 412)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1775, 1777).
Text from The Morality of Shakespeare's Drama Illustrated: By Mrs. Griffith. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1775). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from The Morality of Shakespeare's Drama Illustrated: By Mrs. Griffith. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1775). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
11/15/2013
