“In the lap of hoary Europe lie her children ill at rest,
Reaching hands of supplication to their brethren of the West;
Pale about the lifeless fountain of their ancient freedom, wait
Till the angel move its waters and avenge their stricken state.
Let me then, a new crusader, to the eastward set my face,
Wake the fires of old tradition on each sacred altar-place,
Till a trodden people rouse them, with a clamor as divine
As the winds of autumn roaring through the clumps of forest-pine.
I myself would seize their banner; they should follow where it led,
To the triumph of the victors or the pallor of the dead.”
"Flood-Tide" (1860).
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Edmund Clarence Stedman13
American poet, critic, and essayist 1833–1908Related quotes
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay book Critical and Historical Essays
Critical and Historical Essays: Volume II (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1907), p. 180
On Milton (1825)
Percy Bysshe Shelley book Ode to the West Wind
St. I
Ode to the West Wind (1819)
Context: O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth.
“Wait, wait, till thou hast heard this tale of mine,
Then shalt thou think them devilish or divine.”
William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman
The Earthly Paradise (1868-70), The Lady of the Land
Context: A queen I was, what Gods I knew I loved,
And nothing evil was there in my thought,
And yet by love my wretched heart was moved
Until to utter ruin I was brought!
Alas! thou sayest our gods were vain and nought,
Wait, wait, till thou hast heard this tale of mine,
Then shalt thou think them devilish or divine.
Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet
St. 2. <br class="br"> The Cataract of Lodore http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/652.html (1820)
Epes Sargent (1813–1880) American editor, poet and playwright
When the Night-wind bewaileth, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Sweeter than apples to children
The green water spurted through my pine-wood hull.”
Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) French Decadent and Symbolist poet
Plus douce qu'aux enfants la chair des pommes sures,<br>L'eau verte pénétra ma coque de sapin. <br class="br">St. 5 <br class="br"> Le Bateau Ivre http://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Boat.html (The Drunken Boat) (1871)
“Love on through all ills, and love on till they die.”
Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter
Lalla Rookh http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/lallarookh/index.html (1817), Part IX: The Light of the Harem