"Nay in Proportion lighter Ails controul / The mental Virtue, and infect the Soul."
— Hawkins, William (1721-1801)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Oxford and London
Publisher
R. and J. Dodsley; J. Rivington J. Fletcher; W. Owen, J. Fletcher and S. Parker
Date
1758, 1781
Metaphor
"Nay in Proportion lighter Ails controul / The mental Virtue, and infect the Soul."
Metaphor in Context
Alas! All Souls are subject to like Fate,
All sympathizing with the Body's State;
Let the fierce Fever burn thro' ev'ry Vein,
And drive the madding Fury to the Brain,
Nought can the Fervour of his Frenzy cool,
But Aristotle's self's a Parish Fool!
Nay in Proportion lighter Ails controul
The mental Virtue, and infect the Soul.
Ease is best Convoy in our Voyage to Truth;
What Man e're reason'd with a raging Tooth?
A Poet with a Genius, and without,
Are the same Creatures in the Pangs of Gout.
All sympathizing with the Body's State;
Let the fierce Fever burn thro' ev'ry Vein,
And drive the madding Fury to the Brain,
Nought can the Fervour of his Frenzy cool,
But Aristotle's self's a Parish Fool!
Nay in Proportion lighter Ails controul
The mental Virtue, and infect the Soul.
Ease is best Convoy in our Voyage to Truth;
What Man e're reason'd with a raging Tooth?
A Poet with a Genius, and without,
Are the same Creatures in the Pangs of Gout.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First published as an "Essay on Genius," in vol. 2 of Works [volume titled Dramatic and other Poems] (Oxford: R. and J. Dodsley; J. Rivington J. Fletcher; W. Owen, J. Fletcher and S. Parker, 1758), ii, pp. 224-49. <Link to ESTC><Link to Spenser and the Tradition>
See also William Hawkins, Poems on Various Subjects: By William Hawkins (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by J. Dodsley; Mess. Rivingtons; and W. Owen, London; J. and J. Fletcher, and S. Parker, in Oxford, 1781). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See also William Hawkins, Poems on Various Subjects: By William Hawkins (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by J. Dodsley; Mess. Rivingtons; and W. Owen, London; J. and J. Fletcher, and S. Parker, in Oxford, 1781). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
03/09/2017
