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Date: 1712, 1796

"Unsteady nature, varying like the wind, / Hurries to each extreme th'unstable mind; / At sea becalm'd, we wish some brisker gales / Would on us rise, and fill our limber sails: / We have our wish; and straight our skiff is toss'd / So high, we are in danger to be lost."

— Ellwood, Thomas (1639-1713)

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Date: 1725-6

"Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast, / Tempests of wrath his soul no longer tost; / Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd: / As one who long with pale-ey'd famine pin'd, / The sav'ry cates on glowing embers cast / Incessant turns, impatient for repast"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.

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Date: 1725

A poet shouldn't unfurl his sails in a gale of ungovernable rage

— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)

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Date: 1730

"Tho' his capacious Head, the sacred Ark! / Where a whole World of Science does imbark, / Has steer'd and labour'd all it can, / As Reason fill'd the Sail, / Yet what does all this fruitless search avail?"

— Woodward, George (b. 1708?)

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Date: 1744

"Eternity's vast ocean lies before thee; / There, there, Lorenzo, thy Clarissa sails. / Give thy mind sea-room; keep it wide of earth, / That rock of souls immortal; cut thy cord; / Weigh anchor; spread thy sails; call every wind; / Eye thy great Pole-star; make the land of life."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

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Date: 1746

"As gentle winds inflate the spreading sails," "so wealth and glory swell the Pride"

— Ruffhead, James

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Date: 1765

""Unwise, who, tossing on the watery way, / All to the storm th'unfetter'd sail devolve; / Man more unwise resigns the mental sway, / Born headlong on by passion's keen resolve."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

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Date: 1766

"Should you but discompose the tide, / On which Ideas wont to ride, / Ferment it with a yeasty Storm, / Or with high Floods of Wine deform."

— Lloyd, Evan (1734-1776)

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Date: 1766

"Her tuneful tongue with eloquence and ease, / The golden merchandize of thought conveys; / Brisk fancy wafts it with her sprightly gales, / While judgment ballasts all the swelling sails."

— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)

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Date: 1782

Complacency may breath a gentle gail over the thoughts and swell an "easy sail"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

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