Alexander Smith

Alexander Smith (31 December 1829 – 5 January 1867) was a Scottish poet, and labelled as one of the Spasmodic School. Quotes We hear the wail of the remorseful windsIn their strange penance. And this wretched orbKnows not the taste of rest; a maniac world,Homeless and sobbing through the deep she goes. Unrest and Childhood. The soul of man is like the rolling world,One half in day, the other dipt in night;The one has music and the flying cloud,The other, silence and the wakeful stars. Horton. Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine. Dreamthorp: Essays written in the Country (1863); quoted without attribution in Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury. The man who in this world can keep the whiteness of his soul is not likely to lose it in any other. Dreamthorp: Essays written in the Country (1863). A Life Drama and other Poems (1853) Like a pale martyr in his shirt of fire. Scene 2. In winter, when the dismal rain Comes down in slanting lines,And Wind, that grand old harper, smote His thunder-harp of pines. Scene 2. A poem round and perfect as a star. Scene 2. Some books are drenchèd sandsOn which a great soul’s wealth lies all in heaps,Like a wrecked argosy. Scene 2. The saddest thing that befalls a soulIs when it loses faith in God and woman. Scene 12. We twain have met like the ships upon the sea,Who hold an hour’s converse, so short, so sweet;One little hour! And then, away they speedOn lonely paths, through mist and cloud and foam,To meet no more. Part iv. City Poems (1857) Each time we love,We turn a nearer and a broader markTo that keen archer, Sorrow, and he strikes. "A Boy’s Dream". Death is the ugly fact which Nature has to hide, and she hides it well. "The Fear of Dying". Everything is sweetened by risk. "The Fear of Dying". In life there is nothing more unexpected and surprising than the arrivals and departures of pleasure. If we find it in one place to-day, it is vain to seek it there to-morrow. You can not lay a trap for it. "The Fear of Dying". External links Alexander Smith (poet) Dreamthorp: Essays Written In The Country at Project Gutenberg A Summer in Skye: full book available online. Essays by Alexander Smith at Quotidiana.org . Category:Poets from Scotland Category:1867 deaths