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William Collins Quotes

1721–1759 England

William Collins (December 25, 1721 – June 12, 1759) was an English lyric poet, seen as one of the most influential precursors of Romanticism.

England
Poets

Also known as: Collins, William

Random William Collins quote

21 quotes

How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!

And Hope enchanted smiled, and waved her golden hair.

Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind.

Love of peace, and lonely musing,
In hollow murmurs died away.

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung.

How Sleep the Brave (1748)

Each lonely scene shall thee restore;
For thee the tear be duly shed;
Beloved till life can charm no more,
And mourn'd till Pity’s self be dead.

Dirge (1744)

In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong.

'T was sad by fits, by starts 't was wild.

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

Too nicely Jonson knew the critic's part;
Nature in him was almost lost in Art.

When Music, heavenly maid, was young,
While yet in early Greece she sung.

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

In notes by distance made more sweet.

Filled with fury, rapt, inspir'd.

Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell:
'T is virtue makes the bliss, where'er we dwell.

But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide
No sedge-crown'd sister now attend,
Now waft me from the green hill's side
Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!

Ode Occasioned by the Death of Mr. Thomson (1748)

Fill'd with fury, rapt, inspired.

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair,
What was thy delighted measure?
Still it whisper'd promised pleasure,
And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail!

With eyes up-raised, as one inspired,
Pale Melancholy sate retired,
And from her wild sequestered seat,
In notes by distance made more sweet,
Poured thro' the mellow horn her pensive soul.

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

To fair Fidele's grassy tomb
Soft maids and village hinds shall bring
Each opening sweet of earliest bloom,
And rifle all the breathing spring.

Dirge (1744)

O Music! sphere-descended maid,
Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!

The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747)

In yonder Grave a Druid lies
Where slowly winds the Stealing Wave!
The Year's best Sweets shall duteous rise
To deck its Poet's sylvan Grave!

Ode Occasioned by the Death of Mr. Thomson (1748)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Collins (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.