St. 2
Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odec (written 1742–1750)
By Still Waters (1906)
“Ah! love and song are but a dream,
A flower's faint shade on life's dark stream.”
All from The Vow of the Peacock (Title Poem - Introduction)
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)
“Ah, mighty Queen! you urge me to disclose,
And feel, once more, unutterable woes.”
Book II, line 3
The Æneid of Virgil (1740)
St. 10
Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odec (written 1742–1750)
“Ah, Psyche," I said, "have I made you so little happy as that?”
Orual
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (1956)
Source: The Treasure of the City of Ladies
“To open the window and let a wasp out of the room. Ah, is this not happiness?”
"Thirty-three Happy Moments"
Letter I : Abelard To Philintus, as translated by John Hughes<!-- 1782 edition -->
Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Context: Sometimes I grieve for the house of the Paraclete, and wish to see it again. Ah, Philintus! does not the love of Heloise still burn in my heart? I have not yet triumphed over that happy passion. In the midst of my retirement I sigh, I weep, I pine, I speak the dear name of Heloise, pleased to hear the sound, I complain of the severity of Heaven. But, oh! let us not deceive ourselves: I have not made a right use of grace. I am thoroughly wretched. I have not yet torn from my heart deep roots which vice has planted in it. For if my conversion was sincere, how could I take a pleasure to relate my past follies? Could I not more easily comfort myself in my afflictions? Could I not turn to my advantage those words of God himself, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me also? Come Philintus, let us make a strong effort, turn our misfortunes to our advantage, make them meritorious, or at least wipe out our offences; let us receive, without murmuring, what comes from the hand of God, and let us not oppose our will to his. Adieu. I give you advice, which could I myself follow, I should be happy.
T were vain to tell, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
