"POETICALLY SPEAKING...." FAMOUS QUOTES

"This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi paradise.
This fortress built by Nature for herself;
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happy lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England!"

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
from "KING RICHARD II, " Act 2, Scene 1
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"Ah, a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

Robert Browning
"ANDREA DEL SARTO"
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"Stop! Christian passer-by---stop child of God,
And read with gentle breast: Beneath this sod
A poet lies or that which once seem'd he.
O, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in lfe, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise---to be forgiven for fame
He ask'd and hoped through Christ. Do thou the same!"

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epitaph.
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"Bene lava," (Wash your feet well.)
from a mosaic at the entrance to a Roman villa.
"Cave canem." (Beware of dog.)
from a Roman mosaic.
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"No man is an Island, entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were, as well as a manor
Of thy friends or thine own were;
Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee."

John Donne (1572-1631)
(He wrote on themes of love, death, and religion; was called by some "The Metaphysical Poet.")
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"Music has charms to soothe the savage breast."
from "THE MOURNING BRIDE" spoken by Almenia in Act 9, Scene 1

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
spoken by Zara (above play), Act 3. Scene 7.

"O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell!"

Above quotes by William Congreve (1670-1729)
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"FROM THE PILLARS OF HERCULES TO THE GOLDEN HORN."

A beautiful poetic reference often used by writers to refer to the Mediterranean Sea, from
The Strait of Gibraltar to the Bosphorus.
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By Mil, 4/15/12