“Of all the fowls that sweep the air
None with the Peacock may compare;
Not only for its loveliness,
Though queens in vain might ask such dress,
But o'er those painted plumes are cast
So many shadows from the past”

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Of all the fowls that sweep the air None with the Peacock may compare; Not only for its loveliness, Though queens in…" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon785

English poet and novelist 1802–1838

Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) American artist

Source: 1950s, The painter and the audience' (1954), p. 107

“Her likeness! why it is a vain endeavour
To image it. Painting or words may never
Say what she was; yet dwell I on the task,
As if that Poesy had a right to ask
From Memory its treasure.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

25th March 1826) Ianthe. A Portrait (under the pen name Iole
(25th March 1826) Moon See The Vow of the Peacock
The London Literary Gazette, 1826

“Our hopes, I see, resemble much the sun,
That rising and declining cast large shadows;
But when his beams are dressed in's midday brightness,
Yields none at all: when they are farthest from
Success, their guilt reflection does display
The largest shows of events fair and prosperous.”

George Chapman (1559–1634) English dramatist, poet, and translator

Revenge for Honour (1654), Act II, scene i. Attributed, probably falsely, to Chapman. The play may have been written by Henry Glapthorne.
Disputed

“Histories of ages past
Unenlightened shadows cast.
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity.”

Donovan (1946) Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist

In a performance during "Beatle Week" in Liverpool (27 August 2006), Donovan sang lyrics he declared that George Harrison had improvised for "Hurdy Gurdy Man":
Hurdy Gurdy Man (1967)
Context: Histories of ages past
Unenlightened shadows cast.
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity.
'Tis then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Comes singing songs of love...

“The leaves were gone from all, save where the pine
Threw the wide shadow of its unchang'd green.
I could not envy it that fadeless state.—
Ah! who would be the last, the only one
That ruin spares—no; if the blight must pass
O'er all around, let it pass o'er me too!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

Canto II, X
The Fate of Adelaide (1821)