Ode Quotes

“What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

The rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where’er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and its fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.


—But there’s a tree, of many, one,
A single field which I have look’d upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone:
The pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Hence, in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“(COMPARE)

- Our birth is but a dream and a forgetting (Wordsworth)

- ...so schläft er sehr rasch wieder ein, und schon nach vierundzwanzig Stunden ist es, als sei man niet weg gewesen und als sei die Reise der Traum einer Nacht. (Thomas Mann)

- Thetis baptized her mortal son in Styx;
A mortal mother would on Lethe fix. (Byron)”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Trailing clouds of Glory do we come, from God, who is our home...”
― William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

“Trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God, who is our home ...”
― William Wordsworth, (Ode) Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood