I lived on Dread－1
To Those who know
The Stimulus there is
In Danger－Other impetus
Is numb－and Vitalless－
As 'twere a Spur－upon the Soul－6
A Fear will urge it where
To go without the Sceptre's aid
Were Challenging Despair.
To Those who know
The Stimulus there is
In Danger－Other impetus
Is numb－and Vitalless－
As 'twere a Spur－upon the Soul－6
A Fear will urge it where
To go without the Sceptre's aid
Were Challenging Despair.
(F.498/J.770)
[1] Dread:: extreme danger and fear; a wordplay of thread.
[3, 4] Stimulus, Danger:: the motivation to do so is to risk.
[6] Spur, Soul:: to haste in walking on a thread.
[8] without the spectre's aid:: without supernatural aid, not a magic but skill.
[9] Despair:: staying at a great height.
His father, well known as the Flemish Hercules, brought him up to gymnastics, tight rope, slack rope, wire walking, stilt strutting, tumbling, and all the other elegant accomplishments ─ A Collection of Newspaper Extracts (1842)
Mme. Jas. Potter, the daring wire-walker, who, by a singular coincidence, was precipitated to the ground at the Hippodrome on the same day that her intimate friend the "female Blondin" met with her terrible accident at Highbury Barn, is, we are happy to learn, progressing favourably towards convalescence. ─ The Lancet, Volume II (1862)