“O violet-tressed Sappho chaste,
O maid with honeyed smile!
I fain would tell what is in my breast,
Did shame me not beguile.”

—  Alcaeus of Mytilene

"To Sappho", as translated by Walter Petersen

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 "O violet-tressed Sappho chaste, O maid with honeyed smile! I fain would tell what is in my breast, Did shame me not …" by Alcaeus of Mytilene?
Alcaeus of Mytilene photo
Alcaeus of Mytilene 3
ancient Greek poet -600–-560 BC

Related quotes

Paul-Jean Toulet photo

“Pick me up, o stranger, it is no sin, so lovely is my smell.
Violet's a smile of those who in their graves now dwell.”

Paul-Jean Toulet (1867–1920) French poet

Coples

Alcaeus of Mytilene photo

“Raise a song for her, O Muse!
The violet-crownèd maiden,
And praise her soft throat's changing hues,
Her low voice, laughter-laden. Sing yet again her thousand charms,
Her eyes entrancing splendour,
Her swarthy cheeks and supple arms
And bosom dark and tender. Yea, sing forevermore of her,
My mistress soft-beguiling,
Fairest of all who are, or were,
My Sappho, sweetly-smiling.”

Alcaeus of Mytilene (-600–-560 BC) ancient Greek poet

"No More for Lycus", as translated by James S. Easby-Smith

Julia Quinn photo

“You are not going to waltz in here and distract me with a clever phrase and a beguiling smile."
"You think my smile is beguiling?”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: Romancing Mister Bridgerton

Eleanor Farjeon photo

“Once she kissed me with a jest,
Once with a tear —
O where's the heart was in my breast,
And the ring was in my ear?”

Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965) English children's writer

Kentish Town
More Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1917)

Richard Lovelace photo

“Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,
To war and arms I fly.”

Richard Lovelace (1617–1658) English writer and poet

To Lucasta: Going to the Wars, st. 1.
Lucasta (1649)

Kunti photo

“What, O Kunti, am I to give thee? Tell me what is in thy heart.”

Kunti character from Indian epic Mahabharata

Vayu to Kunti when Kunti invoked him.
The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section CXXIII

Emily Brontë photo

“O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life — that in me has rest,
As I — undying Life — have power in Thee!”

Emily Brontë (1818–1848) English novelist and poet

No Coward Soul Is Mine (1846)
Context: p>No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And Faith shines equal, arming me from Fear.O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life — that in me has rest,
As I — undying Life — have power in Thee!Vain are the thousand creeds
That move men's hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main...</p

William Collins photo

“O Music! sphere-descended maid,
Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!”

William Collins (1721–1759) English poet, born 1721

Source: The Passions, an Ode for Music (1747), Line 95.

Arthur Hugh Clough photo

“O tell me, friends, while yet we part,
And heart can yet be heard of heart,
O tell me then, for what is it
Our early plan of life we quit;
From all our old intentions range,
And why does all so wholly change?
O tell me, friends, while yet we part!”

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) English poet

Parting http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/C/CloughArthurHugh/verse/poemsproseremains/parting.html, st. 1.

Alexander Blok photo

“O, my Russia! O, wife! The long road is clear to us to the point of pain. Our road – like a Tatar arrow of ancient will has pierced our breast.”

Alexander Blok (1880–1921) poet

"On Kulikovo Field" (1908); translation from Sarah Pratt Nikolai Zabolotsky (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2000) p. 53.

Related topics