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High on a gorgeous seat, that far out-shone
Henley's gilt tub, or Flecknoe's Irish throne,
Or that where on her Curlls the public pours,
All-bounteous, fragrant grains and golden showers,
Great Cibber sate: the proud Parnassian sneer,
The conscious simper, and the jealous leer,
Mix on his look: all eyes direct their rays
On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.
His peers shine round him with reflected grace,
New edge their dulness, and new bronze their face.
So from the sun's broad beam, in shallow urns
Heaven's twinkling sparks draw light, and point their horns.
Not with more glee, by hands Pontific crown'd,
With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round,
Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit,
Throned on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.
NEXT
Henley's gilt tub, or Flecknoe's Irish throne,
Or that where on her Curlls the public pours,
All-bounteous, fragrant grains and golden showers,
Great Cibber sate: the proud Parnassian sneer,
The conscious simper, and the jealous leer,
Mix on his look: all eyes direct their rays
On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.
His peers shine round him with reflected grace,
New edge their dulness, and new bronze their face.
So from the sun's broad beam, in shallow urns
Heaven's twinkling sparks draw light, and point their horns.
Not with more glee, by hands Pontific crown'd,
With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round,
Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit,
Throned on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.
NEXT
I. The King Circled by His Attendents
The King of Dulness, Colley Cibber, on his throne surrounded by crowds of admirers.
The "all-bounteous, fragrant grains and golden showers," suggests both Dullness as the fertility goddess Ceres but also the beer that the crowds are drinking before Cibber's throne.
The imagery of light is alluding to Milton's famous exposition on light in Paradise Lost:
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns.
(PL 7.364ff)
Milton's understand was that the stars absorbed and reflected the light of the sun. Pope's parody has the light proceed from the drunken and reddened faces of Cibber's admirers.
The "all-bounteous, fragrant grains and golden showers," suggests both Dullness as the fertility goddess Ceres but also the beer that the crowds are drinking before Cibber's throne.
The imagery of light is alluding to Milton's famous exposition on light in Paradise Lost:
Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns.
(PL 7.364ff)
Milton's understand was that the stars absorbed and reflected the light of the sun. Pope's parody has the light proceed from the drunken and reddened faces of Cibber's admirers.
