Shade Quotes - page 7
But ne'er the subject of your work proclaim
In its own colors and its genuine name;
Let it by distant tokens be conveyed,
And wrapped in other words, and covered in their shade.
At last the subject from the friendly shroud
Bursts out, and shines the brighter from the cloud;
Then the dissolving darkness breaks away,
And every object glares in open day.
Thus great Ulysses' toils were I to choose
For the main theme that should employ my Muse,
By his long labors of immortal fame
Should shine my hero, but conceal his name;
As one who, lost at sea, had nations seen,
And marked their towns, their manners, and their men,
Since Troy was leveled to the dust by Greece-
Till a few lines epitomized the piece.
Marco Girolamo Vida
Hark! My ears are catching corncrake's clicking,
Silver moonlight shines on cobhead corn;
Summer evening's blessing me, enriching,
Valley's wreaths of smoky slash and burn.
Neither joying I, nor grieve I, mournful;
But for forest's darkness am I yearnful,
Rose-gilt clouds the day's protracted ending,
Windy sleeping hill o'er all extending,
Fragrant twinflower, shortening, lingering shade;
These the things from which my heart-song's made.
Lady June-July, for you I'm singing,
Great the silence of my ardent heart,
Merry music make, for faith is mounting,
Verdant wreath of oak eternal start.
Foolish errands now I'll make no longer,
Fortune blessèd hands will grasp the stronger;
Rippled pool of circles now decreasing;
Time has ceased and weathervane is sleeping;
Stretches road at twilit end of day,
Bound for home unknown, I take its way.
Eino Leino
It may fairly be claimed that humanity has, within the past hundred years, found a way of carrying a theatre in its pocket; and so long as humanity remains what it is, it will delight in taking out its pocket-stage and watching the antics of the actors, who are so like itself and yet so much more interesting. Perhaps that is, after all, the best answer to the question, "What is a novel?” It is, or ought to be, a pocket-stage. Scenery, light, shade, the actors themselves, are made of words, and nothing but words, more or less cleverly put together. A play is good in proportion as it represents the more dramatic, passionate, romantic, or humorous sides of real life. A novel is excellent according to the degree in which it produces the illusions of a good play-but it must not be forgotten that the play is the thing, and that illusion is eminently necessary to success.
Francis Marion Crawford