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Nor do we merely feel these essences for one short hour no, even as these trees that whisper round a temple become soon dear as the temples self, so d...more

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I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination.

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Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic on his own works.

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If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.

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Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--Not in lone splendour hung aloft the nightAnd watching, with eternal lids apart,Like nature's patient...more

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I have been astonished that men could die martyrsfor their religion--I have shuddered at it,I shudder no more.I could be martyred for my religion.Love...more

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No one can usurp the heights...But those to whom the miseries of the worldAre misery, and will not let them rest.

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Poetry should be great and unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one's soul, and does not startle it or amaze it with itself, but with its subject.

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Touch has a memory. O say, love, say,What can I do to kill it and be free?

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Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes.

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The same that oft-times hath charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam of perilous seas, in fairy lands forlorn.

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Love in a hut with water and a crust Is - Love forgive us! - cinders ashes dust.

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Besides, a long poem is a test of invention, which I take to be the Polar star of Poetry, as Fancy is the sails - and Imagination the rudder.

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I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion - I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more - I could be martyred for my religion - Lov...more

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Whatever the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth -whether it existed before or not