Poet

Explore 1478 quotes by Poets

Oh! the old swimmin' hole! When I last saw the place,
The scenes was all changed, like the change in my face.

James Whitcomb Riley

Read The Old Swimmin' Hole at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Remembering one's youth Aging

Author

James Whitcomb Riley

Source

The Old Swimmin' Hole

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Riley, James Whitcomb [published as Benjamin F. Johnson of Boone County]. "The Old Swimmin' Hole." The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems. Indianapolis: George C. Hitt & Co., 1883, st. 5.

Current Citation

Riley, James Whitcomb. "The Old Swimmin' Hole." Little Orphant Annie and Other Poems. Dover Publications, 2011, st. 5.

Wit is the only wall
Between us and the dark.

Mark Van Doren

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Topic

Wit Power of humor Humor

Author

Mark Van Doren

Source

Wit

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Doren, Mark Van. "Wit." Collected Poems 1922–1938. Henry Holt & Company, 1939, st. 1.

Art is born of humiliation.

W.H. Auden

More information about this quote

Topic

Sources of art Art

Speaker

W.H. Auden

Source

World Within World

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Auden, W. H. Quoted in World Within World, by Stephen Spender. Hamish Hamilton/Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1951.

O! many a shaft, at random sent,
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken!

Sir Walter Scott

More information about this quote

Topic

Comforting words Fortuitous occurrences

Author

Sir Walter Scott

Source

The Lord of the Isles

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1815 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Scott, Walter, Sir. The Lord of the Isles. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co./London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1815, canto 5, st. 18.

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Alfred Tennyson

The Princess

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Read The Princess at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Looking back Changing of seasons Passage of time Melancholy

Author

Alfred Tennyson

Source

The Princess

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Tennyson, Alfred. The Princess. London: Edward Moxon, 1847, pt. 4.

Current Citation

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "The Princess." Alfred Tennyson: The Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 4.

Love is a thing.
It is a prick, it is a sting,
It is a pretty, pretty thing;
It is a fire, it is a coal
Whose flame creeps in at every hole.

George Peele

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of love Love

Author

George Peele

Source

The Hunting of Cupid

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Definition

Language

English

Time

1591 1590s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Peele, George. The Hunting of Cupid. c. 1591.

Music, the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heaven we have below.

Joseph Addison

Read A Song for St. Cecilia's Day at allpoetry.com

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Topic

Music

Author

Joseph Addison

Source

A Song for St. Cecilia's Day

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1694 1690s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Addison, Joseph. "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, at Oxford." 1694.

Style is not something applied. It is something inherent, something that permeates.

Wallace Stevens

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Topic

Style

Speaker

Wallace Stevens

Source

Two or Three Ideas

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stevens, Wallace. "Two or Three Ideas." 28 Apr. 1951, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, USA. Speech.

I will go back to the great sweet mother, Mother and lover of men, the sea.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

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Topic

Ocean and sea

Author

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Language

English

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Triumph of Time." Poems and Ballads, First Series. London: Edward Moxon & Co., 1866, st. 33.

Current Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Triumph of Time." Poems and Ballads and Atalanta in Calydon. Penguin Classics, 2001, st. 33.

War, he sung, is Toil and Trouble;
Honour, but an empty Bubble.
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying;
If the World be worth thy winning,
Think, O think it worth enjoying.

John Dryden

More information about this quote

Topic

Anti-war War

Author

John Dryden

Source

Alexander's Feast, or The Power of Musique an Ode, in Honour of St. Cecilia's Day

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1697 1690s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Dryden, John. Alexander's Feast, or The Power of Musique an Ode, in Honour of St. Cecilia's Day. London: Jacob Tonson, 1697, I. 97.

Current Citation

Dryden, John. "Alexander's Feast." John Dryden Selected Poems. Penguin Classics, 2002, I. 97.

From the first dawn of life unto the grave,
Poor womankind's in every state a slave.

Sarah Egerton

More information about this quote

Topic

Oppression of women Women's lives

Author

Sarah Egerton

Source

The Emulation Poems on Several Occasions Together with a Pastoral

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1703 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Egerton, Sarah. "The Emulation." Poems on Several Occasions, Together with a Pastoral. London: J. Nutt, 1703.

Oh how am I to face the odds
Of man's bedevilment and God's?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

A.E. Housman

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Read this poem at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Alienation Courage The human condition

Author

A.E. Housman

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Housman, Alfred Edward. Last Poems. Henry Holt & Company, 1922, no. 12.

Current Citation

Housman, Alfred Edward. "Last Poems." A Shropshire Lad and Other Poems, edited by Archie Burnett. Penguin Classics, 2010, no. 12.

When it's over I don't want to wonder
If I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver

When Death Comes

More information about this quote

Topic

Living life to the fullest

Author

Mary Oliver

Source

When Death Comes

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1992 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Oliver, Mary. "When Death Comes." New and Selected Poems. Beacon Press, 1992, I. 24.

I am tired of tears and laughter,
And men that laugh and weep;
Of what may come hereafter
For men that sow and reap:
I am weary of days and hours,
Blown buds of barren flowers,
Desires and dreams and powers
And everything but sleep.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

More information about this quote

Topic

Tired heart

Author

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1866 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine." Poems and Ballads, First Series. London: Edward Moxon & Co., 1866, st. 2.

Current Citation

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine." Poems and Ballads and Atalanta in Calydon. Penguin Classics, 2001, st. 2.

Do not cast away an honest man for a villain’s accusation!

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 2

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Read Henry VI, Part 2 (this was originally titled The Contention) at The Folger Shakespeare Library

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Topic

False accusations Benefit of the doubt Trustworthiness

Speaker

Horner

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Henry VI, Part 2

Medium

Play

Genre

History (play)

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1594 1590s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Henry the Sixth, Part 2. London: Thomas Millington, 1594, act 1, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Second Part of Henry the Sixth." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 1, sc. 3.

In the deep windings of the grove, no more
The hag obscene, and the grisly phantom dwell;
Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar
Of winds is heard the angry spirit's yell.

James Beattie

More information about this quote

Topic

Disenchanted world Modern life

Author

James Beattie

Source

The Minstrel

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1774 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Beattie, James. The Minstrel; Or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. London: E. & C. Dilly, 1774, bk. 2, st. 47.

The world is gradually becoming a place where I do not care to be any more.

John Berryman

More information about this quote

Topic

Loss

Author

John Berryman

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Berryman, John. His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968, poem no. 149.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free;
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.

Richard Lovelace

To Althea, From Prison

Read To Althea, From Prison at Poetry Foundation

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Topic

Nature of freedom Freedom

Author

Richard Lovelace

Source

To Althea, From Prison Lucasta

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1649 1640s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lovelace, Richard. "To Althea, from Prison." Lucasta. London: William Hazlitt, 1649, I. 25.

Egypt's might is tumbled down
Down a-down the deeps of thought;
Greece is fallen and Troy town,
Glorious Rome hath lost her crown,
Venice' pride is nought.
But the dreams their children dreamed
Fleeting, unsubstantial, vain
Shadowy as the shadows seemed
Airy nothing, as they deemed,
These remain.

Mary Coleridge

Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of civilization Societal collapse Impermanence

Author

Mary Coleridge

Source

Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1908 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coleridge, Mary. "Egypt's Might is Tumbled Down." Poems. London: Elkin Mathews, 1908, I. 1.

At thirty, Man suspects himself a fool;
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;
At fifty chides his infamous delay,
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve;
In all the magnanimity of thought
Resolves; and re-resolves; then dies the same.

Edward Young

Night Thoughts

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Topic

Changing oneself Stages of life

Author

Edward Young

Source

Night Thoughts

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1742 1740s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Young, Edward. The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality. London: R. Dodsley, 1742, Night 1, I. 417.

Current Citation

Young, Edward. Edward Young: Night Thoughts, edited by Stephen Cornford. Cambridge University Press, 2008, Night 1, I. 417.