page 1 of 2     per page:
sorted by:

Date: 1700

"Reason's a Taper, which but faintly burns, / A languid Flame that glows and dyes by Turns; / We see't a while, and but a little Way, / We Travel by its Light as Men by Day."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

preview | full record

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"And as great Phoebus sometimes rages high, / And scorches with his Beams the sultry Sky: / So when the Heart with Rage, or flaming Ire, / Grows warm, or burns with Love's consuming Fire: / The catching Virals spread the Flames afar."

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

preview | full record

Date: 1712

"Strong as the Winds, and sprightly as the Light? / She [the mind] moves unweary'd, as the active Fire, / And, like the Flame, her Flights to Heav'n aspire."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

preview | full record

Date: w 1710, 1720

"Whilst like the Lamp's last Flame, their trembling Souls / Are on the Wing to leave their mortal Goals."

— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)

preview | full record

Date: 1726, 1753

"As fire, by nature, climbs direct, and bright, / And beams, in spotless rays, a shining light; / But if some gross obstruction stops its way, / Smokes in low curls, and scents the sullied day: / So love, itself, untainted, and refin'd, / Borrows a tincture, from the colour'd mind."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

preview | full record

Date: 1730

"As thus we talk'd, / Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale / That portion of divinity, that ray / Of purest Heaven, which lights the glorious flame / Of patriots, and of heroes."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

preview | full record

Date: 1739

"Fill our whole Souls with heav'nly Light, / Melt with Seraphick Fire."

— Wesley, John and Charles

preview | full record

Date: 1742

"Full on ourselves descending in a line, / Pleasure's bright beam is feeble in delight: / Delight intense is taken by rebound; / Reverberated pleasures fire the breast."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

preview | full record

Date: 1744

"I see, / I feel a grandeur in the Passions too, / Which speaks their high descent, and glorious end; / Which speaks them rays of an eternal fire."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

preview | full record

Date: 1745

"All these Pleasures of his Breast should die, / The Beams of Science from his Soul retire / And fade, extinguish'd by a nobler Fire, / As kindled Wood, howe'er its Flames may rise, / When the bright Sun appears, in Embers dies."

— Whaley, John (bap. 1710, d. 1745)

preview | full record

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