Date: 1712
"The clouded Images their March delay, / Till the rouz'd Soul, by a superiour Ray / Breaks thro' the Shade, and urges on the Day."
preview | full record— Cobb, Samuel (1675-1713); Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718); Quillet, Claudius (fl.1640-1656)
Date: 1718 [first published 1684-1694]
"I am indeed of Opinion, that the Ancients called Man 'Phos', that is 'Light', so that from the Affinity of their Natures, strong desires are bred in Mankind, of continually seeing and being seen to each other: Nay some Philosophers hold the Soul it self to be essentially LIGHT, which among other...
preview | full record— Plutarch (c. 46-120)
Date: 1725
As when clouds disperse and restore the day, so may a "sudden flash" rush on the soul
preview | full record— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)
Date: 1738, 1792
"But soon a beam, emissive from above, / Shed mental day, and touch'd the heart with love; / Gave jealous rage to know Divine Controul, / And ruled the tempest rising in the soul."
preview | full record— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)
Date: 1739
"Fill our whole Souls with heav'nly Light, / Melt with Seraphick Fire."
preview | full record— Wesley, John and Charles
Date: 1761
"'O let not Reason's lamp be lighted here!"
preview | full record— Fawkes, Francis (1720-1777); Menander (342-291 B.C.)
Date: 1761, 1790
"Ev'n from this dark confinement with delight / She [the mind] looks abroad, and prunes herself for flight; / Like an unwilling inmate longs to roam / From this dull earth, and seek her native home."
preview | full record— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787); Browne, Isaac Hawkins (1706-1760)
Date: 1762
"Often, like the evening-sun, comes the memory of former times on my soul."
preview | full record— Ossian; Macpherson, James (1736-1796)
Date: 1774, rev. 1787, 1779 in English
"What is the whole world to our hearts without love? It is the optic machine of the Savoyards without light." [More literal translation: "Wilhelm, what would the world mean to our hearts without love! What is a magic lantern without its lamp!"]
preview | full record— Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1749-1832)
Date: 1774, rev. 1787, 1779 in English
"A darkness spreads over my eyes; heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb all its powers, like the idea of a beloved mistress."
preview | full record— Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1749-1832)