The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
And now I see with eye serene,
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller betwixt life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.
‘She was a phantom of delight’ (1807)
For still, the more he works, the more
Do his weak ankles swell.
‘Simon Lee’ (1798)
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
‘A slumber did my spirit seal’ (1800)
Love had he found in huts where poor men lie;
His daily teachers had been woods and rills,
The silence that is in the starry sky,
The sleep that is among the lonely hills.
‘Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle’ (1807)
O Man, that from thy fair and shining youth
Age might but take the things Youth needed not!
‘The Small Celandine’ (There is a flower, 1807)
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover’s head!
‘O mercy!’ to myself I cried,
‘If Lucy should be dead!’
‘Strange Fits of Passion’ (1800)
Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom