Date: 1854
"Thomas Gradgrind took no heed of these trivialities of course, but passed on as a practical man ought to pass on, either brushing the noisy insects from his thoughts, or consigning them to the House of Correction."
preview | full record— Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
Date: 1854
"He was touched in the cavity where his heart should have been--in that nest of addled eggs, where the birds of heaven would have lived if they had not been whistled away--by the fervor of this reproach."
preview | full record— Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
Date: 1864
"Look, now, I melt a gourd-fruit into mash, / Add honeycomb and pods, I have perceived, / Which bite like finches when they bill and kiss,-- / Then, when froth rises bladdery, drink up all, / Quick, quick, till maggots scamper through my brain; / Last, throw me on my back i' the seeded thyme, / A...
preview | full record— Browning, Robert (1812-1889)
Date: 1868
"The strong man arm'd this moment bind, / The bold usurper of Thy throne, / His armour seize, the carnal mind, / The unbelieving heart of stone, / Out of my flesh the evil tear, / And pluck my soul out of the snare."
preview | full record— Wesley, John and Charles
Date: 1868
"A sinner's heart by lust possess'd, / Of birds unclean the loathsome nest, / Of fiends the dark abode; / A stinking sepulchre it lies, / While the poor wretch with horror flies / The sight of man and God."
preview | full record— Wesley, John and Charles
Date: November, 1930
"What's in your mind, my dove, my coney; / Do thoughts grow like feathers, the dead end of life; / Is it making of love or counting of money, / Or raid on the jewels, the plans of a thief?"
preview | full record— Auden, W. H. (1907-1973)
Date: 1958
"Such hectic extremes of gloom and gaiety are, indeed, characteristic of the manic-depressive, as with poor Crabbe's wife; in such persons the superego sits, as it were, like a great baleful cat, while the poor little cowed mouse of an ego creeps about with its tail between its legs; but at inter...
preview | full record— Lucas, F. L. (1894-1967)
Date: 1992
"Only behind a waterfall of brutal and pleasurable sensations, thought Patrick, accepting the leather-clad menu without bothering to glance up, could he hide from the bloodhounds of his conscience. . There, in the cool recess of the rock, behind that heavy white veil, he would hear them yelping a...
preview | full record— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)
Date: 1992
"It was hard enough to rescue himself from the avalanche of his own feelings, without allowing the gloomy St Bernard of his attention to wander into other fields."
preview | full record— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)
Date: 1992
"Heroin landed purring at the base of his skull, and wrapped itself darkly around his nervous system, like a black cat curling up on its favourite cushion."
preview | full record— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)