"Too promising, too great a mind/ In so small room to be confin'd"

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. M. for H. Herringman
Date
1667
Metaphor
"Too promising, too great a mind/ In so small room to be confin'd"
Metaphor in Context
What on Earth deserves our trust?
Youth and Beauty both are dust.
Long we gathering are with pain,
What one moment calls again.
Seven years childless, marriage past,
A Son, a son is born at last:
So exactly lim'd and fair,
Full of good Spirits, Meen, and Air,
As a long life promised,
Yet, in less than six weeks dead.
Too promising, too great a mind
In so small room to be confin'd
:
Therefore, as fit in Heav'n to dwell,
He quickly broke the Prison shell.
So the subtle Alchimist,
Can't with Hermes Seal resist
The powerful spirit's subtler flight,
But t'will bid him long good night.
And so the Sun if it arise
Half so glorious as his Eyes,
Like this Infant, takes a shrowd,
Buried in a morning Cloud.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "room" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
4 records in ESTC (1667, 1669, 1678, 1710).

Text from Poems: By the most deservedly Admired Mrs Katherine Philips: The matchless Orinda. To which is added Monsieur Corneille's Pompey & Horace Tragedies. With several other Translations out of French (London: Printed by J. M. for H. Herringman, 1667). <Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
08/29/2005

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