Quotessence
Home / Books / Collected Poems

Collected Poems

Book by William Blake · 19 quotes · Poetry, Heart, Poem

Filter quotes by topic

AllPoetryHeartPoemIfsLoveThinkingMenNightDeathTreeDreamLongEyeWorldBodyEarthKnowsHandsJoyLight

Collected Poems Quotes

“You know, without my telling you, how sometimes a word or name eludes you, and you seek it through running ghosts of shadow -- leaping at it, lying in wait for it to spring upon it, spreading faint snares for it of sense or sound: until, of a sudden, as if in a phantom forest, you hear it, see it flash among the branches, and scarcely knowing how, suddenly have it.”

IfsKnowsSometimesRunningLyingNamesWaitingSoundKnowingSpringShadowGhostForestsBranchesFlashPhantomsSnaresEludeElude You
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pool singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone.”

IfsKnowsMindWarDoneCareLastsNightSoundWhiteGoneFireTreeMankindSpringSingingLowsBirdRainSmellDawnPoolFenceWireFrogsWhimRobinsPlumsWhistling
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“Are the angels of her bed the angels who come near me alone in mine? Are the green trees in her window the color is see in ripe plums? If she always sees backward and upside down without knowing it what chance do we have? I am haunted by the feeling that she is saying melting lords of death, avalanches, rivers and moments of passing through, And I am replying, "Yes, yes. Shoes and pudding.”

IfsMomentsFeelingsChanceLordKnowingTreeMinesColorBedAngelRiversWindowGreenShoesPassingPassingsMeltingRipeUpside DownMe AlonePassing ThroughPuddingPlumsAvalanchesGreen TreesReplying
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“Brown Penny I WHISPERED, 'I am too young,' And then, 'I am old enough'; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. 'Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair.' Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops of her hair. O love is the crooked thing, There is nobody wise enough To find out all that is in it, For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon. Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, One cannot begin it too soon.”

IfsThinkingMenEnoughMightWould BeRunningYoungStarsLove IsWiseHairMoonShadowFairsAnd LoveYoung ManBrownRunning AwayPenniesCrookedLoopsBe Young
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“When you go, if you go, And I should want to die, there's nothing I'd be saved by more than the time you fell asleep in my arms in a trust so gentle I let the darkening room drink up the evening, till rest, or the new rain lightly roused you awake. I asked if you heard the rain in your dream and half dreaming still you only said, I love you.”

IfsWantShouldSaidStillsDreamDiesRoomsHalfHeardLove YouArmsDrinkRainSavedEveningGentleYour DreamsAwakeWanting To DieDarkening
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“The FlowersAll the names I know from nurse:Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,And the Lady Hollyhock.Fairy places, fairy things,Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,Tiny trees for tiny dames-These must all be fairy names!Tiny woods below whose boughsShady fairies weave a house;Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,Where the braver fairies climb!Fair are grown-up people's trees,But the fairest woods are these;Where, if I were not so tall,I should live for good and all”

PeopleIfsKnowsShouldHouseNamesTreeFairsWingsRoseWoodsTinyFairyClimbsTallNurseBeesButtonsGardenerPursesShepherdsBachelorsDamesThymeGartersTree Tops
Book:Collected Poems
Create image

“Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning, We will come back to earth some fragrant night, And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white. We will come down at night to these resounding beaches And the long gentle thunder of the sea, Here for a single hour in the wide starlight We shall be happy, for the dead are free.”

IfsKindLongEarthDeathNightHoursWhiteSeaDyingLowsWideBreatheBeachGentleThunderLanesImpermanenceBendingStarlight
Book:Collected Poems
Create image