{"id":822,"date":"2011-01-17T16:42:46","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T16:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=822"},"modified":"2011-01-17T16:42:46","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T16:42:46","slug":"on-imagination-by-phillis-wheatley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/on-imagination-by-phillis-wheatley\/","title":{"rendered":"On Imagination by Phillis Wheatley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Imagination
\nby Phillis Wheatley<\/p>\n

Thy various works, imperial queen, we see,
\nHow bright their forms! how deck’d with pomp
\nby thee!
\nThy wond’rous acts in beauteous order stand,
\nAnd all attest how potent is thine hand.
\nFrom Helicon’s refulgent heights attend,
\nYe sacred choir, and my attempts befriend:
\nTo tell her glories with a faithful tongue,
\nYe blooming graces, triumph in my song.
\nNow here, now there, the roving Fancy flies,
\nTill some lov’d object strikes her wand’ring eyes,
\nWhose silken fetters all the senses bind,
\nAnd soft captivity involves the mind.
\nImagination! who can sing thy force?
\nOr who describe the swiftness of thy course?
\nSoaring through air to find the bright abode,
\nTh’ empyreal palace of the thund’ring God,
\nWe on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
\nAnd leave the rolling universe behind:
\nFrom star to star the mental optics rove,
\nMeasure the skies, and range the realms above.
\nThere in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
\nOr with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded soul.
\nThough Winter frowns to Fancy’s raptur’d eyes
\nThe fields may flourish, and gay scenes arise;
\nThe frozen deeps may break their iron bands,
\nAnd bid their waters murmur o’er the sands.
\nFair Flora may resume her fragrant reign,
\nAnd with her flow’ry riches deck the plain;
\nSylvanus may diffuse his honours round,
\nAnd all the forest may with leaves be crown’d:
\nShow’rs may descend, and dews their gems disclose,
\nAnd nectar sparkle on the blooming rose.
\nSuch is thy pow’r, nor are thine orders vain,
\nO thou the leader of the mental train:
\nIn full perfection all thy works are wrought,
\nAnd thine the sceptre o’er the realms of thought.
\nBefore thy throne the subject-passions bow,
\nOf subject-passions sov’reign ruler thou;
\nAt thy command joy rushes on the heart,
\nAnd through the glowing veins the spirits dart.
\nFancy might now her silken pinions try
\nTo rise from earth, and sweep th’ expanse on high:
\nFrom Tithon’s bed now might Aurora rise,
\nHer cheeks all glowing with celestial dies,
\nWhile a pure stream of light o’erflows the skies.
\nThe monarch of the day I might behold,
\nAnd all the mountains tipt with radiant gold,
\nBut I reluctant leave the pleasing views,
\nWhich Fancy dresses to delight the Muse;
\nWinter austere forbids me to aspire,
\nAnd northern tempests damp the rising fire;
\nThey chill the tides of Fancy’s flowing sea,
\nCease then, my song, cease the unequal lay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Imagination by Phillis Wheatley Thy various works, imperial queen, we see, How bright their forms! how deck’d with pomp by thee! Thy wond’rous acts in beauteous order stand, And all attest how potent is thine hand. From Helicon’s refulgent heights attend, Ye sacred choir, and my attempts befriend: To tell her glories with a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1700s"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t