Poet

Explore 1478 quotes by Poets

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call a clear call that may not be denied.

John Masefield

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Topic

Ocean and sea

Author

John Masefield

Source

Sea Fever

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Masefield, John. "Sea-Fever." Salt-Water Ballads. London: Grant Richards, 1902, I. 5.

Current Citation

Masefield, John. "Sea-Fever." Sea Fever: Selected Poems of John Masefield, edited by Philip W. Errington. Carcanet Press, 2005, I. 5.

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Read Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie at poets.org

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Topic

The forest

Author

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Source

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie. Boston: William D. Ticknor & Co., 1847, prologue.

Current Citation

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings, edited by J. D. McClatchy. Library of America, 2000, prologue.

Poetry is the expression, in human language restored to its essential rhythm, of the mysterious meaning of the aspects of existence: in this way it confers authenticity on our time on earth and constitutes the only spiritual task there is.

Stepháne Mallarmé

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry

Author

Stepháne Mallarmé

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1884 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Mallarme, Stephane. Letter to Leo d'Orfer. 27 June 1884.

Current Citation

Mallarme, Stephane. Selected Letters of Stéphane Mallarmé. University of Chicago Press, 1988.

There are only two great diseases in the world to-day—Bolshevism and Americanism; and Americanism is the worse of the two, because Bolshevism only smashes your house or your business or your skull, but Americanism smashes your soul.

D.H. Lawrence

The Plumed Serpent

More information about this quote

Topic

Criticism of America

Speaker

Young Henry

Author

D.H. Lawrence

Source

The Plumed Serpent

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1926 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lawrence, D.H. The Plumed Serpent. Martin Secker, 1926, ch. 2.

True Happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise: it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self; and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

Joseph Addison

The Spectator

More information about this quote

Topic

Happiness Contentment

Author

Joseph Addison

Source

The Spectator

Language

English

Time

1711 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Addison, Joseph. The Spectator. London, 17 March 1711, no. 15.

I know you Lawyers can, with ease,
Twist words and meanings as you please;
That language, by your skill made pliant,
Will bend to favour every client.

John Gay

More information about this quote

Topic

Lawyers Rhetoric Language

Author

John Gay

Source

The Dog and the Fox Fables (John Gay)

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1732 1730s 18th century

Era

Used date of death but this work was originally published in 1738. -AAM

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gay, John. "The Dog and the Fox." Fables. London: John Knapton, Paul Knapton, and T. Cox, 1738, pt. 2, I. 1.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

John McCrae

In Flanders Fields

Read In Flanders Fields at Poetry Foundation

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Topic

World War I

Author

John McCrae

Source

In Flanders Fields

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

McCrae, John. "In Flanders Fields." Punch, 8 Dec. 1915.

Love wakes men, once a lifetime each;
They lift their heavy lids, and look;
And, lo, what one sweet page can teach,
They read with joy, then shut the book.

Coventry Patmore

The Angel in the House

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of love Love

Author

Coventry Patmore

Source

The Angel in the House

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Patmore, Coventry. The Angel in the House. Self-published, 1854, bk. 1, canto 8, prelude 2.

If it has to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas.

Jean Cocteau

Barabbas was the criminal released by Pontius Pilate , at the crowd's insistence, instead of Jesus.

More information about this quote

Topic

The mob The masses

Author

Jean Cocteau

Source

The Cock and the Harlequin

Medium

Essay

Language

French

Time

1918 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cocteau, Jean. Le Coq et l'Arlequin [The Cock and the Harlequin]. Paris: Editions de la Sirene, 1918.

Now no joy but lacks salt
That is not dashed with pain
And weariness and fault;
I crave the stain
Of tears, the aftermark
Of almost too much love,
The sweet of bitter bark
And burning clove.

Robert Frost

More information about this quote

Topic

Yin and yang Experiencing things

Author

Robert Frost

Source

To Earthward

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Frost, Robert. "To Earthward." New Hampshire. Henry Holt, 1923, st. 5, I. 1.

Current Citation

Frost, Robert. "To Earthward." Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays, edited by Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson. Library of America, 1995, st. 5, I. 1.

I do not know why the necessity of God
Should feed on grief; but it seems so.

Christopher Fry

More information about this quote

Topic

Need of God Grief

Speaker

Moses

Author

Christopher Fry

Source

The Firstborn

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fry, Christopher. The Firstborn. Cambridge University Press, 1946, act 3, sc. 2.

The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away.

Edmund Bolton

More information about this quote

Topic

Accumulation of wealth Impermanence The ephemeral The only constant is change

Author

Edmund Bolton

Source

A Palinode

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1600 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bolton, Edmund. A Palinode. c. 1600.

In those days, when every male who could stand half-way erect was being shipped to Verdun to undergo a radical change of posture from the vertical to the eternal horizontal.

Günter Grass

The Tin Drum

Buy The Tin Drum at Amazon Buy The Tin Drum at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I War

Author

Günter Grass

Source

The Tin Drum

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1959 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Die Blechtrommel [The Tin Drum]. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff. Franz Seitz Filmproduktion/Bioskop Film, 1959.

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.

Edwin Markham

More information about this quote

Topic

Farming

Author

Edwin Markham

Source

The Man with the Hoe

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Markham, Edwin. "The Man with the Hoe." San Francisco Examiner, Jan. 1899.

When someone tells me a piece of the truth which has been withheld from me, and which I needed in order to see my life more clearly, it may bring acute pain, but it can flood me with a cold, sea-sharp wash of relief.

Adrienne Rich

More information about this quote

Topic

Difficult truths

Speaker

Adrienne Rich

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1975 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rich, Adrienne. "Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying." Women's Writing Workshop. June 1975, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, USA.

Patriotism is a lively sense of collective responsibility. Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on its own dunghill.

Richard Aldington

The Colonel's Daughter

More information about this quote

Topic

Patriotism Nationalism

Speaker

Mr. Purfleet

Author

Richard Aldington

Source

The Colonel's Daughter

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Aldington, Richard. The Colonel's Daughter. Chatto and Windus, 1931.

While classes exist no one is free.
We are not born to be slaves or to be masters.
We are born to be brothers and sisters.
What is capitalism but buying and selling of people?

Ernesto Cardenal

More information about this quote

Topic

Class conflict Power relations Equality Brotherhood Social hierarchy

Author

Ernesto Cardenal

Source

Canto Nacional

Medium

Poem

Genre

Political literature

Language

Spanish

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Cardenal, Ernesto. Canto nacional. Ediciones Carlos Loblé, 1973.

O Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering upon aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!

Sir Walter Scott

Redgauntlet

Read Marmion at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of women Women

Author

Sir Walter Scott

Source

Redgauntlet

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Scott, Walter, Sir. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co./London: William Miller and John Murray, 1808, canto 6, st. 30.

Christ of his gentleness
Thirsting and hungering,
Walked in the wilderness;
Soft words of grace He spoke
Unto lost desert-folk
That listened wondering.

Robert Graves

More information about this quote

Topic

Jesus The Gospel Christianity

Author

Robert Graves

Source

In the Wilderness

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Graves, Robert. "In the Wilderness." Over the Brazier. c. 1916.

Current Citation

Graves, Robert. "In the Wilderness." The Complete Poems: In One Volume. Penguin Books, 2003, l. 1-6.

The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds.

Carl Sandburg

Buy The People, Yes at Amazon Buy The People, Yes at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Societal collapse The human condition

Author

Carl Sandburg

Source

The People, Yes

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sandburg, Carl. The People, Yes. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1936, no. 107.