The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘The Great Hunger’ (1947)
I hate what every poet hates in spite
Of all the solemn talk of contemplation.
Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight
Of being king and government and nation.
A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.
‘Inniskeen Road: July Evening’ (1936).
11.12 Ted Kavanagh 1892-1958
Can I do you now, sir?
‘Mrs Mopp’ in ‘ITMA’ (BBC radio programme, 1939-49)
I go—I come back.
‘Ali Oop’ in ‘ITMA’ (BBC radio programme, 1939-49)
It’s being so cheerful as keeps me going.
‘Mona Lott’ in ‘ITMA’ (BBC radio programme, 1939-49)
11.13 Denis Kearney 1847-1907
Horny-handed sons of toil.
Speaking in San Francisco, c.1878.
11.14 John Keats 1795-1821
Other spirits there are standing apart
Upon the forehead of the age to come.
‘Addressed to [Haydon]’ (1817)
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?
‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ (1820)
Where the nightingale doth sing
Not a senseless, trancéd thing,
But divine melodious truth.
‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ (1820)
Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores.