Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Inspiration, Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900
"What doth it Serve?"
Poems (1616)
Context: What doth it serve to see sun's burning face,
And skies enamelled with both the Indies' gold?
Or moon at night in jetty chariot roll'd,
And all the glory of that starry place?
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Inspiration, Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900
“Where words prevail not, violence prevails;
But gold doth more than either of them both.”
Thomas Kyd book The Spanish Tragedy
Act II, sc. i
The Spanish Tragedy (1592)
“The golden sun rose from the silver wave,
And with his beams enamelled every green.”
Edward Fairfax (1580–1635) English translator
Book I, stanza 35
Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Variant: Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It's what the sunflowers do.
“The sun and the moon,
I want to see both worlds as One!”
The Sun and the Moon.
Brother, Sister (2006)