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Again she plunges! hark! a second shock
Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock;
Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries,
The fated victims shuddering cast their eyes
In wild despair; while yet another stroke
With strong convulsion rends the solid oak:
Ah Heaven!—behold her crashing ribs divide!
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the tide.

— William Falconer The Shipwreck (1762)

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More quotes by William Falconer

High in his chariot glow'd the lamp of day.

The Shipwreck (1762)

The sacred lamp of day
Now dipt in western clouds his parting ray.

The Shipwreck (1762)

Thou living ray of intellectual fire.

The Shipwreck (1762)

With living colours give my verse to glow:
The sad memorial of a tale of woe!

The Shipwreck (1762)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Falconer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.