Poets Laureate

"A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye; Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky."

"One of those heavenly days that cannot die."

"Full twenty times was Peter feared, For once that Peter was respected."

"As in the eye of Nature he has lived, So in the eye of Nature let him die!"

"Men who can hear the Decalogue, and feel To self-reproach."

"The fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world Have hung upon the beatings of my heart."

"The bane of all that dread the Devil."

"Up! up! my friend, and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double! Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks! Why all this toil and trouble?"

"And 't is my faith, that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes."

"Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on, Through words and things, a dim and perilous way."

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."

"In years that bring the philosophic mind."

"Oh for a single hour of that Dundee Who on that day the word of onset gave!"

"Where music dwells Lingering and wandering on as loth to die, Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality."

"Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore Of nicely calculated less or more."

"But who would force the soul tilts with a straw Against a champion cased in adamant."

"Meek Walton's heavenly memory."

"The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropped from an Angel's wing."

"Habit rules the unreflecting herd."

"As thou these ashes, little brook! will bear Into the Avon, Avon to the tide Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas, Into main ocean they, this deed accurst, An emblem yields to friends and enemies How the bold teacher's doctrine, sanctified By truth, shall spread throughout the world dispersed."

"Babylon, Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, Nor leaves her speech one word to aid the sigh That would lament her."

"Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, An ampler ether, a diviner air, And fields invested with purpureal gleams."

"He spake of love, such love as spirits feel In worlds whose course is equable and pure; No fears to beat away, no strife to heal,— The past unsighed for, and the future sure."

"Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place."

"Mightier far Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway Of magic potent over sun and star, Is Love, though oft to agony distrest, And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast."

"For the gods approve The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul."

"And mighty poets in their misery dead."

"Choice word and measured phrase, above the reach Of ordinary men."

"That heareth not the loud winds when they call, And moveth all together, if it moves at all."

"I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous Boy, The sleepless Soul that perished in his pride; Of Him who walked in glory and in joy Following his plough, along the mountain-side: By our own spirits are we deified: We Poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof come in the end despondency and madness."

"But how can he expect that others should Build for him, sow for him, and at his call Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?"

"As high as we have mounted in delight, In our dejection do we sink as low."

"Whom neither shape of danger can dismay, Nor thought of tender happiness betray."

"And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw."

"But who, if he be called upon to face Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined Great issues, good or bad for human kind, Is happy as a Lover."

"More skillful in self-knowledge, even more pure, As tempted more; more able to endure, As more exposed to suffering and distress."

"Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves Of their bad influence, and their good receives."

"Who, doomed to go in company with Pain, And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train! Turns his necessity to glorious gain."

"Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be?"

"Give unto me, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give, And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!"

"Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong."

"Me this unchartered freedom tires; I feel the weight of chance-desires: My hopes no more must change their name, I long for a repose that ever is the same."

"A light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove."

"Stern Daughter of the Voice of God!"

"That inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude."

"A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company."

"Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance."

"Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way."

"I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils. Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

"The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command."