A SIMILE. Matthew Prior Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T075639 Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII. 1718 pp. 195-196. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°.

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A SIMILE . Dear Thomas , didst Thou never pop Thy Head into a Tin-man's Shop ? There , Thomas , didst Thou never see ( 'Tis but by way of Simile ) A Squirrel spend his little Rage , In jumping round a rowling Cage ? The Cage , as either Side turn'd up , Striking a Ring of Bells a-top — ? Mov'd in the Orb , pleas'd with the Chimes , The foolish Creature thinks he climbs : But here or there , turn Wood or Wire , He never gets two Inches higher . So fares it with those merry Blades , That frisk it under Pindus' Shades . In noble Songs , and lofty Odes , They tread on Stars , and talk with Gods ; Still Dancing in an airy Round , Still pleas'd with their own Verses Sound ; Brought back , how fast soe'er they go ; Always aspiring , always low .