Browse Sermon Illustrations
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A Murmur in the Trees -- to note
A Murmur in the Trees -- to note -- Not loud enough -- for Wind -- A Star -- not far enough to seek -- Nor near enough -- to find -- A long -- long Yellow -- on the Lawn -- A Hubbub -- as of feet -- ...
Holy Sonnet XIX: Oh, To Vex Me, Contraries Meet In One
Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one: Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot A constant habit; that when I would not I change in vows, and in devotion. As humorous is my contrition As my profane love, an...
To Anne
Oh, Anne, your offences to me have been grievous: I thought from my wrath no atonement could save you; But Woman is made to command and deceive us-- I look'd in your face, and I almost forgave you. I...
A Part of an Ode
to the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that noble pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison IT is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred ...
Answer to Some Elegant Verses Sent by a Friend to the Author, Complaining That One of His Descriptions Was Rather Too Warmly Drawn
"But if any old Lady, Knight, Priest, or Physician, Should condemn me for printing a second edition; If good Madam Squintum my work should abuse, May I venture to give her a smack of my muse?" Anstey's 'New Bath Guide', p. 169. Candour compels me, BECHER!...
Bonny Lassie O!
O the evening's for the fair, bonny lassie O! To meet the cooler air and walk an angel there, With the dark dishevelled hair, Bonny lassie O! The bloom's on the brere, bonny lassie O!...
Lines Inscribed upon a Cup Formed From a Skull
Start not--nor deem my spirit fled: In me behold the only skull, From which, unlike a living head, Whatever flows is never dull. I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee: I died: let earth my bon...
Holy Sonnet VIII: If Faithful Souls Be Alike Glorified
If faithful souls be alike glorified As angels, then my fathers soul doth see, And adds this even to full felicity, That valiantly I hells wide mouth o'erstride: But if our minds to these souls be des...
The Soul has Bandaged moments --
The Soul has Bandaged moments -- When too appalled to stir -- She feels some ghastly Fright come up And stop to look at her -- Salute her -- with long fingers -- Caress her freezing hair -- Sip, Gobl...
Homer's Hymn to the Earth: Mother of All
O universal Mother, who dost keep From everlasting thy foundations deep, Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee! All shapes that have their dwelling in the sea, All things that fly, or on the g...
A Farewell to the World
FALSE world, good night! since thou hast brought That hour upon my morn of age; Henceforth I quit thee from my thought, My part is ended on thy stage. Yes, threaten, do. Alas! I fear As litt...
On the Star of "the Legion of Honour."
Star of the brave!--whose beam hath shed Such glory o'er the quick and dead-- Thou radiant and adored deceit! Which millions rushed in arms to greet,-- Wild meteor of immortal birth! Why rise in Heaven to set on Earth?...
Summer Evening
The frog half fearful jumps across the path, And little mouse that leaves its hole at eve Nimbles with timid dread beneath the swath; My rustling steps awhile their joys deceive, Till past,--and then ...
Clock-a-Clay
In the cowslip pips I lie, Hidden from the buzzing fly, While green grass beneath me lies, Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes, Here I lie, a clock-a-clay, Waiting for the time of day. While the fores...
Thy Days Are Done
Thy days are done, thy fame begun; Thy country's strains record The triumphs of her chosen Son, The slaughters of his sword! The deeds he did, the fields he won, The freedom he restored! Though...
The Happiest Day
The happiest day--the happiest hour My seared and blighted heart hath known, The highest hope of pride and power, I feel hath flown. Of power! said I? Yes! such I ween But they have vanished lo...
On Parting
The kiss, dear maid! thy lip has left Shall never part from mine, Till happier hours restore the gift Untainted back to thine. Thy parting glance, which fondly beams, An equal love may see: The...
In Winter in my Room
In Winter in my Room I came upon a Worm -- Pink, lank and warm -- But as he was a worm And worms presume Not quite with him at home -- Secured him by a string To something neighboring And went along. ...
In Youth I Have Known One
_How often we forget all time, when lone Admiring Nature's universal throne; Her woods--her wilds--her mountains--the intense Reply of Hers to Our intelligence!_ In youth I have known one with whom t...
Decay
O Poesy is on the wane, For Fancy's visions all unfitting; I hardly know her face again, Nature herself seems on the flitting. The fields grow old and common things, The grass, the sky, the winds a-blowing; And spots, where still a beauty clings, Are sighing "going!...
Oh! Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom
Oh! snatched away in beauty's bloom, On thee shall press no ponderous tomb; But on thy turf shall roses rear Their leaves, the earliest of the year; And the wild cypress wave in tender glo...
26. John Barleycorn: A Ballad
THERE was three kings into the east, Three kings both great and high, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn should die. They took a plough and plough’d him down, Put clods upon his ...
From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
From Cocoon forth a Butterfly As Lady from her Door Emerged -- a Summer Afternoon -- Repairing Everywhere -- Without Design -- that I could trace Except to stray abroad On Miscellaneous Enterprise Th...
THE EVENING STAR
Lo! in the painted oriel of the West, Whose panes the sunken sun incarnadines, Like a fair lady at her casement, shines The evening star, the star of love and rest! And then anon she doth herself dive...