dead names by Wren Goderie
dead names
and this I'll say of Peter, to his face:
George Colman the Younger, The Water-Fiends
was it the voice of thee, my buried friend,
William Lisle Bowles, Elegiac Stanzas
cast in the same poetic mould with mine?
John Dryden, To The Memory of Mr. Oldham
we poets are (upon a poet's word)
Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace
corrupt and mortal in thy purest part —
John Donne, An Anatomy of the World
but we are spirits of another sort,
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
that the great dead have opened up for us
D.H. Lawrence, Manifesto
their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Triumph of Life
and said, as plain as whisper in the ear:
Thomas Hood, The Haunted House
how shall we live tonight? where shall we turn?
Conrad Aiken, The House of Dust
a caper in the trees, — and I'm a rose!
Emily Dickinson, A Rose
and only bloom to fade as fast away,
Abram Joseph Ryan, Sorrow and the Flowers
and sleep, and dream of something we are not.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
no thrill like this is felt beneath the sun.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Banker’s Secret
the sun is lord and god, sublime, serene.
Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Lake of Gaube
I mean to rule the earth, as he the sky!
William Schwenck Gilbert, Proper Pride
but soon we find to our dismay that we
Banjo Patterson, The Road to Old Man’s Town
sleep through his blinding reign, and only wake
Emily Brontë, Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sun
beneath the comfortless cold moon; a fool
Christina Rossetti, A Daughter of Eve
come at dusk on closing water lilies.
Sara Teasdale, Water Lilies
my flowers, how they burn their lives away,
Aldous Huxley, The Flowers
watching the tide of seasons as they flow.
Oscar Wilde, Ravenna
the tide of love swells in me with such force!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Law
then with the ebbing I should drift and be
Sara Teasdale, Sea Longing
the sea! might I but moor tonight in thee
Emily Dickinson, Wild nights - wild nights!
where lie our shipwrecks and our coral caves!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Poet’s Song
we'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart —
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
and they that drink know nought of sky or land.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Stream’s Secret
(they know not, neither will they understand
before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain.)
John Keats, When I have fears that I may cease to be
I held my breath. I could have fled the place
Eric Mackay, Love Letters of a Violinist 7:18
under the tide: but now I breathe again,
William Shakespeare, King John
a voice more loud, a tide more strong, till at
Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake
the frothy waves, and scrambling to the shore
Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and The Carpenter
through all my changes I am faithful still.
Christina Rossetti, All Thy Works Praise Thee, O Lord
something in me was born before the stars —
Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa, Sonnet XXIV
'twixt women's love and men's, will ever be
John Donne, Air and Angels
between the sun and moon upon the shore.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lotos Eaters
such magic spells transform'd me in this wise.
Petrarch (Macgregor’s translation), Sonnet 178
all lovely tales that we have heard or read
John Keats, Endymion
are we; our second selves these shadows be.
Thomas Traherne, Shadows in the Water
doth it not thrill thee, poet? dead and dust
Richard Le Galliene, The Passionate Reader to his Poet
shall be thy rightful name, in prose and rhyme!
William Wordsworth, They Called Thee Merry England, in Old Time
