Dear little Slavic Sappho, we had thought
Hearing thy songs so sweetly, deftly wrought,
That thou shouldst have an heritage one day
Beyond thy father's lands: his lute to play.
from Sir Philip Sidney
Now therein of all Sciences . . . is our Poet the Monarch. For hee doth not onely shew the way, but giveth so sweete a prospect into the way, as will entice anie man to enter into it.
from William Shakespeare
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to aery nothing
A local habitation and a name.
from John Milton
For Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie of life in them to be as active as that soule was whose progeny they are.
from Anne Bradstreet
I wash'd thy face, but more defects saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
from Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
But, lady, as women, what wisdom may be ours if not the philosophies of the kitchen? Lupercio Leonardo spoke well when he said: how well one may philosophize when preparing dinner. And I often say, when observing these trivial details: had Aristotle prepared victuals, he would have written more.
from Samuel Johnson
But whatever be the advantage of rhyme, I cannot prevail on myself to wish that Milton had been a rhymer; for I cannot wish his work to be other than it is; yet, like other heroes, he is to be admired rather than imitated.
from David Crantz
If a Greenlander thinks himself aggrieved by another, he discovers no symptom of revengeful designs, anger, or vexation, but he composes a satirical poem.
from Phillis Wheatley
Imagination! Who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
1 comment:
you have found a justification, as if one were needed, for writing poetry about food! Contemplating Aristotle with an apron now.
Post a Comment