Lives of the English Poets : Waller, Milton, Cowley by Samuel Johnson
page 170 of 225 (75%)
page 170 of 225 (75%)
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Close as heat with fire is join'd;
A powerful brand prescribed the date Of thine, like Meleager's fate. Th' antiperistasis of age More enflam'd thy amorous rage. In the following verses we have an allusion to a rabbinical opinion concerning manna: Variety I ask not: give me one To live perpetually upon. The person Love does to us fit, Like manna, has the taste of all in it. Thus Donne shows his medicinal knowledge in some encomiastic verses: In everything there naturally grows A balsamum to keep it fresh and new, If 'twere not injured by extrinsic blows: Your youth and beauty are this balm in you. But you, of learning and religion, And virtue and such ingredients, have made A mithridate, whose operation Keeps off, or cures what can be done or said. |
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