The Seasons is a series of four poems written by the Scottish author James Thomson. The first part, Winter, was published in 1726, and the completed poem cycle appeared in 1730.The poem was extremely influential, and stimulated works by John Christopher Smith, Joseph Haydn, Thomas Gainsborough and J. M. W. Turner among many others.
“Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Spring (1728), l. 1149-1150.
“Ships dim-discovered dropping from the clouds.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 946.
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 871-874.
“There studious let me sit,
And hold high converse with the mighty dead.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Winter (1726), l. 431-432.
“For many a day, and many a dreadful night,
Incessant lab'ring round the stormy cape.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Summer (1727), l. 1002.
“He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 229.
“For loveliness
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament,
But is when unadorned adorned the most.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 208-210.
