Date: 1785
"The effort rude to quench the cheering flame / Was mine, and e'en on Stella could I gaze / With sullen envy, and admiring pride, / Till, doubly roused by Montagu, the pair / Conspire to clear my dull, imprisoned sense, / And chase the mists which dimmed my visual beam."
preview | full record— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)
Date: 1785
"O, Montagu! forgive me, if I sing / red with the milder ray / Of soft humanity, and kindness bland: / So wide its influence, that the bright beams / Reach the low vale where mists of ignorance lodge, / Strike on the innate spark which lay immersed, / Thick-clogged, and almost quenched in total n...
preview | full record— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)
Date: 1788
"For they have keen affections, kind desires, / Love strong as death, and active patriot fires; / All the rude energy, the fervid flame, / Of high-souled passions, and ingenuous shame: / Strong but luxuriant virtues boldly shoot / From the wild vigour of a savage root."
preview | full record— More, Hannah (1745-1833)
Date: 1788
"His breast, where nobler passions burn, / In honest poverty, would spurn / That wealth, Oppression can bestow, / And scorn to wound a fetter'd foe."
preview | full record— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)
Date: 1788
"Or, if where savage habit steels / The vulgar mind, one bosom feels / The sacred claim of helpless woe-- / If Pity in that soil can grow; / Pity! whose tender impulse darts / With keenest force on nobler hearts; / As flames that purest essence boast, / Rise highest when they tremble most."
preview | full record— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)
Date: 1788
"On Eloquence, prevailing art! / Whose force can chain the list'ning heart; / The throb of Sympathy inspire, / And kindle every great desire; / With magic energy controul / And reign the sov'reign of the soul!"
preview | full record— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)
Date: 1791
"In the rich realms of polished taste, / Where judgment penetrates to find / The treasures of the unwrought mind, / Where conversation's ardent spirit / Refines from dross the ore of merit, / Where emulation aids the flame / And stamps the sterling bust of fame."
preview | full record— West, Jane (1758-1852)
Date: 1791
"[I]mpetuous Passion's flame" may be blown to rage
preview | full record— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)
Date: 1806
"Thy pure flame / Would light the sense opake, and warm the spring / Of boundless ecstacy; while nature's laws / So violated, plead, immortal-tongu'd, / For her dark-fated children; lead them forth / From bondage infamous!"
preview | full record— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)
Date: 1797, 1806
"Nor when the bosom's wasted fires / Are all extinct, is anguish o'er; / For jealousy, which ne'er expires, / Can wound--when passion is no more."
preview | full record— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)