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To the Nightingale |
John Milton |
1628 |
English |
O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hopes the lover’s heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May.
Thy liquid notes, that close the eye of day,
First heard before... |
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To the Nightingale |
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WHENCE is it, that amaz'd I hear
From yonder wither'd spray,
This foremost morn of all the year,
The melody of May?
And why, since thousands would be proud
Of such a favour shown,
Am I... |
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To the Pliocene Skull |
Bret Harte |
1859 |
English |
A Geological Address
“A human skull has been found in California, in the pliocene formation. This skull is the remnant, not only of the earliest pioneer of this State, but the oldest known human being…. The skull was found in a shaft one hundred and fifty feet deep, two miles from... |
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To the Princess Lucretia |
Torquato Tasso |
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English |
From London Magazine
THY unripe youth seemed like the purple rose
That to the warm ray opens not its breast,
But, hiding still within its mossy vest,
Dares not its virgin beauties to disclose;
Or like Aurora, when the heaven first glows,—
For... |
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To The Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole, (Now Earl Of Orford). Written in the Year 1730 |
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SIR,
WHILE at the helm of state you ride,
Our nation's envy, and its pride;
While foreign courts with wonder gaze,
And curse those councils which they praise;
Would you not wonder, sir, to view
... |
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To the Royal Academy |
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To the Royal Academy
A strange Erratum in all the Editions
Of Sir Joshua Reynoldss Lectures
Shou[l]d be corrected by the Young Gentlemen
And the Royal Academys Directors
...
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To the same |
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Thy patron, good St. Valentine,
Who lived so long ago,
Watched only over happy hearts,
As all true lovers know.
But thou, born on his natal day,
A... |
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To the same (Mr. L-----) I |
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English |
Dear Sir, when late in town you chose
To correspond no more in prose,
My viscious muse---(but 'tis in vain
Of her abuses to complain)---
Neglects to aid, as I expected,
And so I must be self-directed....
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To the same (Mr. L-----) II |
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English |
From plains and peaceful cots I send
The humble wishes of a friend:
May love still spread his silken wing,
And life to you be ever spring:
May virtue guide you with her clue,
Life's mazy path to wander...
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To the same (Mr. L-----) III |
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English |
Dear brother, to these happy shades repair,
And leave, Oh leave the city's noxious air:
I'll try description, friend---methinks I see
'Twill influence your curiosity.
Before our door a meadow flies the eye,...
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To The Same. |
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GREAT sir, as on each levée day
I still attend you - still you say
I'm busy now, to-morrow come;
To-morrow, sir, you're not at home,
So says your porter, and dare I
Give such a man as him the lie?
... |
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To The Same. On Her Wishing To Have A Lilliputian To Play With. |
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English |
Is there a man who would not be,
My Celia, what is priz'd by thee?
A monkey beau, to please thy sight,
Would wish to be a monkey quite.
Or (couldst thou be delighted so)
Each man of sense would be a beau... |
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To The Same; Having Blamed Mr. Gay For His Severity On Her Sex. |
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English |
LET it not Celia's gentle heart perplex
That Gay severe hath satiriz'd her sex;
Had they, like her, a tenderness but known,
Back on himself each pointed dart had flown.
But blame thou last, in whose accomplish'd... |
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To the Skylark |
William Wordsworth |
1790 |
English |
Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest, which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed,... |
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To the Skylark |
Percy Bysshe Shelley |
1812 |
English |
HAIL to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest,... |
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To the Spring |
Sir John Davies |
1589 |
English |
From “Hymnes of Astræa, in Acrosticke Verse”
E ARTH now is green, and heaven is blue,
L ively Spring which makes all new,
I olly Spring, doth enter;
S weet young sun beams do subdue
A ngry, agèd Winter.
B lasts are mild, and seas are calm,... |
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To the stanch Dust |
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English |
To the stanch Dust
We safe commit thee —
Tongue if it hath,
Inviolate to thee —
Silence — denote —
And Sanctity — enforce thee —
Passenger — of Infinity —
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To the sun (Botta) |
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Thou glorious lamp of Space! Thou that dost flood
The void of heaven with brightness! in thy glow
Unnumbered worlds, age after age, have trod
In their appointed paths, and yet the flow
... |
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To the Terrestrial Globe |
William Schwenck Gilbert |
1856 |
English |
By a Miserable Wretch
ROLL on, thou ball, roll on!
Through pathless realms of space
Roll on!
What though I ’m in a sorry case?
What though I cannot meet my bills?
What though I suffer toothache’s ills?
What though I swallow countless... |
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To the Unco Guid |
Robert Burns |
1779 |
English |
“My son, these maxims make a rule
And lump them aye thegither:
The Rigid Righteous is a fool,
The Rigid Wise anither:
The cleanest corn that e’er was dight
May hae some pyles o’ caff in;
Sae ne’er a fellow-creature slight
For... |
