William Collins
William Collins
Eighteenth-century English poet whose lyrical works include Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegorical Subjects and Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands. Poet John Langhorne published Collins' collected poems in 1765.
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth25 December 1721
beating begin chair confession poem rope tie torture
But all they want to do Is tie the poem to a chair with rope And torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose To find out what it really means.
friend music
O Music! sphere-descended maid, / Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's aid!
along dressed green human loose moves pen sleeve strange
My pen moves along the pagelike the snout of a strange animalshaped like a human armand dressed in the sleeve of a loose green sweater.
along animal arm dressed green human loose moves page pen shaped sleeve strange
My pen moves along the page like the snout of a strange animal shaped like a human arm and dressed in the sleeve of a loose green sweater.
modest soothe thy
If aught of oaten stop, or pastoral song, / May hope, chaste Eve, to soothe thy modest ear.
against blowing spaces wind
Here's to the wind blowing against this lighted houseand to the vast, windless spaces between the stars.
against blowing house spaces wind
Here's to the wind blowing against this lighted house and to the vast, windless spaces between the stars.
easily english-poet humor humorous
I think humor is a very serious thing. I use it as a way of weakening the reader's defenses so that I can more easily take him to something more.
barnacles democracy english-poet scare
Words like feminism or democracy scare me. They are words with barnacles on them, and you can't see what's underneath.
becomes english-poet reader
When a writer becomes a reader of his or her own work, a lot can go wrong. It's like do-it-yourself dentistry.
call comedies english-poet essential humor humorous prior shakespeare
Prior to Wordsworth, humor was an essential part of poetry. I mean, they don't call them Shakespeare comedies for nothing.
fairy forms hands scholars-and-scholarship unseen
By fairy hands their knell is rung; / By forms unseen their dirge is sung.
rest sink sleep wishes
How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, / By all their country's wishes blest!
charm dead life self till
Beloved, till life can charm no more; And mourned, till Pity's self be dead