quote · Legacy record
Woe to thee, wild Ambition! I employ Despair’s low notes thy dread effects to tell; Born in high heaven, her peace thou could’st destroy; And but for thee, there had not been a hell. Through the celestial domes thy clarion pealed; Angels, entranced, beneath thy banners ranged, And straight were fiends; hurled from the shrinking field, They waked in agony to wail the change. Darting through all her veins the subtle fire, The world’s fair mistress first inhaled thy breath; To lot of higher beings learned to aspire; Dared to attempt, and doomed the world to death.
Woe to thee, wild Ambition! I employ Despair’s low notes thy dread effects to tell; Born in high heaven, her peace thou could’st destroy; And but for thee, there had not been a hell. Through the celestial domes thy clarion pealed; Angels, entranced, beneath thy banners ranged, And straight were fiends; hurled from the shrinking field, They waked in agony to wail the change. Darting through all her veins the subtle fire, The world’s fair mistress first inhaled thy breath; To lot of higher beings learned to aspire; Dared to attempt, and doomed the world to death.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Maria A. Brooks (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 27 · printed citation: Maria A. Brooks · subject: AMBITION
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.