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
cut fall seems skin yesterday
It seems only yesterday I used to believethere was nothing under my skin but light.If you cut me, I would shine.But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,I skin my knees. I bleed.
close eyes remove warm
I want to remove my hat, close my eyes,and feel the sun, warm and intermittent, on my face.
close remove warm
I want to remove my hat, close my eyes, and feel the sun, warm and intermittent, on my face.
across blowing lake might mind
I want my mind to be a sail, susceptible to any breezethat might be blowing across the lake of consciousness.
across blowing breeze lake might mind
I want my mind to be a sail, susceptible to any breeze that might be blowing across the lake of consciousness.
family means park words
It means treasury, but it is just a placewhere words congregate with their relatives,a big park where hundreds of family reunionsare always being held.
family means park words
It means treasury, but it is just a place where words congregate with their relatives, a big park where hundreds of family reunions are always being held.
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