Careful Words

frame (n.)

frame (v.)

The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Ode.

There is no theam more plentifull to scan

Than is the glorious goodly frame of man.

Du Bartas (1544-1590): First Week, Sixth Day.

Should the whole frame of Nature round him break,

In ruin and confusion hurled,

He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack,

And stand secure amidst a falling world.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Horace. Ode iii. Book iii.

Vital spark of heavenly flame!

Quit, O quit this mortal frame!

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Dying Christian to his Soul.

Who hath not own'd, with rapture-smitten frame,

The power of grace, the magic of a name?

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Pleasures of Hope. Part ii. Line 5.

  This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2.

From harmony, from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began:

From harmony to harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The diapason closing full in Man.

John Dryden (1631-1701): A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. Line 11.

All thoughts, all passions, all delights,

Whatever stirs this mortal frame,

All are but ministers of Love,

And feed his sacred flame.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): Love.