"But now my soul unus'd to stretch her powers / In flight so daring, drops her weary wing, / And seeks again the known accustom'd spot, / Drest up with sun, and shade, and lawns, and streams, / A mansion fair and spacious for its guest, / And full replete with wonders."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Joseph Johnson
Date
1773
Metaphor
"But now my soul unus'd to stretch her powers / In flight so daring, drops her weary wing, / And seeks again the known accustom'd spot, / Drest up with sun, and shade, and lawns, and streams, / A mansion fair and spacious for its guest, / And full replete with wonders."
Metaphor in Context
But now my soul unus'd to stretch her powers
In flight so daring, drops her weary wing,
And seeks again the known accustom'd spot,
Drest up with sun, and shade, and lawns, and streams,
A mansion fair and spacious for its guest,
And full replete with wonders.
Let me here
Content and grateful, wait th' appointed time
And ripen for the skies: the hour will come
When all these splendours bursting on my sight
Shall stand unveil'd, and to my ravish'd sense
Unlock the glories of the world unknown.
(pp. 137-8)
Provenance
Reading; text from ECCO-TCP
Citation
At least 10 entries in ESTC (1773, 1774, 1776, 1777, 1792).

Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia), 1743-1825. See Poems (London: Printed for Joseph Johnson, 1773). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>

Some text drawn from The Works of Anna Lætitia Barbauld. With a Memoir by Lucy Aikin (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Browne, and Green, 1825).

Reading McCarthy, William and Kraft, Elizabeth, eds. Anna Letitia Barbauld: Selected Poetry and Prose (Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002).
Date of Entry
03/08/2014

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