Date: 1775

"How like a wanton lamb that careless play'd, / The shepherd and the fold forgotten quite, / My vagrant soul, in search of vain delight, / Many long years from her true Shepherd stray'd!"

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: 1788

"Not that unlicens'd monster of the crowd, / Whose roar terrific bursts in peals so loud, / Deaf'ning the ear of Peace: fierce Faction's tool; / Of rash Sedition born, and mad Misrule; / Whose stubborn mouth, rejecting Reason's rein, / No strength can govern, and no skill restrain."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1789

"Bid Syren Hope resume her long lost part, / And chase the vulture Care--that feeds upon the heart."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1797

"Thus on the golden thread that Fancy weaves / Buoyant, as Hope's illusive flattery breathes, / The young and visionary Poet leaves / Life's dull realities, while sevenfold wreaths / Of rainbow light around his head revolve."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1806

"All around / A solemn stillness seems to guard the scene, / Nursing the brood of thought--a thriving brood / In the rich mazes of the cultur'd brain."

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1806

"Shall the caprice of nature, the deep tint / Of sultry climes, the feature varying, / Or the uncultur'd mind, endure the scourge / Of sordid tyranny, or heap the stores / Of his fair fellow man, whose ruddy cheek / Knows not the tear of pity; whose white breast / Conceals a heart, than adamant m...

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1825

Domestic love may build her nest in the "feeling breast"

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Date: April 1861

"My heart is like a singing bird / Whose nest is in a water'd shoot."

— Rossetti, Christina (1830-1894)

Date: 1942

"I shall keep them [my thoughts] to myself for a time, and when I am older / They will shine as a white worm shines under a green boulder."

— Smith, Stevie (1902-1971)