Date: 1653

"Thoughts are for Shadowes plac'd, / By which the lighter Fancies are more graced. / As through a dark, and watry Cloud, more bright, / The Sun breakes forth with his Resplendent Light. / Or like to Night's black Mantle, where each Star / Doth clearer seem, so lighter Fancies are."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: w. 1677, 1702

"Vain wandring Thoughts, that crowd within my Breast / Do oft obstruct my Soul from Solid Rest; / like to vagrant Clouds, obscure the Mind / Which should to serious watching be inclin'd."

— Mollineux [née Southworth], Mary (1651-1695)

Date: 1713

"Now a Dead Sea thou'lt represent, / A Calm of stupid Discontent, / Then, dashing on the Rocks wilt rage into a Storm."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1713

"In the Imperious Wife thou Vapours art, / Which from o'erheated Passions rise / In Clouds to the attractive Brain, / Until descending thence again, / Thro' the o'er-cast, and show'ring Eyes, / Upon her Husband's soften'd Heart, / He the disputed Point must yield, / Something resign of t...

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1748

The sorrowing soul is tempestuous

— Pilkington, Laetitia (c. 1709-1750)

Date: 1752

"Should passion e'er his soul deform, / Serenely meet the bursting storm; / Never in wordy war engage, / Nor ever meet his rage with rage. / With all our sex's softening art / Recall the lost reason to his heart; / Thus calm the tempest in his breast, / And sweetly soothe his soul to rest."

— Clark [née Lewis], Esther (bap. 1716, d. 1794)

Date: 1758

"Within MYSELF does Virtue dwell? / Is all serene and beauteous there? / What mean these chilling damps of fear? "

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

Date: 1762

"Till then the hope, by Damon's vows betray'd, / And wand'ring long on Passion's stormy seas, / By his unerring guidance safely led, / Shall fix her anchor on the rock of Peace."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Pure from th' eternal Source of Being came / That Ray divine that lights the human Frame: / Yet oft, forgetful of it's heavenly Birth, / It sinks obscur'd beneath the Weight of the Earth: / Mechanic Pow'rs retard it's Flight, and hence / The Storms of Passion, and the Clouds of Sense: / 'Tis Lif...

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1773

"Not all the storms that shake the pole / Can e'er disturb thy halcyon soul, / And smooth unaltered brow."

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