Remarks by James Thomson | V2Melody Quotations

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Showing 12 of 12 remarks

“Nothing can have a better influence towards the revival of poetry than the choosing of great and serious subjects, such as at once amuse the fancy, enlighten the head, and warm the heart.”

Calls for serious subject-matter as the way to restore poetry · Preface to Winter, 1726

“As this poem grew up under your encouragement, it has therefore a natural claim to your patronage.”

Patronage framed as the natural consequence of encouragement · Dedication letter of Spring to the Countess of Hertford, 1728

“The more I see of the vanity and wickedness of the world, the more I am inclined to that sacred office.”

Written while still considering a clerical vocation · Letter to Dr Cranstoun, 1725

“Mr. Riccaltoun's poem on Winter, which I still have, first put the design into my head—in it are some masterly strokes which awakened me.”

Acknowledges the spark that started The Seasons · Letter to Dr Cranstoun, September 1725

“Nature delights me in every form; I am just now painting her in her most lugubrious dress for my own amusement, describing Winter as it presents itself.”

Early statement of the impulse behind Winter · Letter to Dr Cranstoun, Barnet, September 1725

“It is declaring against the most charming power of imagination, the most exalting force of thought, the most affecting touch of sentiment.”

Contempt of poetry treated as contempt of imagination itself · Preface to Winter, 1726

“That any man should seriously declare against that divine art is really amazing.”

Poetry defended as a divine art against fashionable contempt · Preface to Winter, 1726

“But there is no thinking of these things without breaking out into poetry; which is, by the bye, a plain and undeniable argument of their superior excellence.”

Poetry as the natural overflow of attention to nature · Preface to Winter, 1726

“How gay looks the Spring! how glorious the Summer! how pleasing the Autumn! and how venerable the Winter!”

Each season given a distinct moral and aesthetic character · Preface to Winter, 1726

“In every dress Nature is greatly charming, whether she puts on the crimson robes of the morning, the strong effulgence of noon, the sober suit of the evening, or the deep sables of blackness and tempest.”

Every season and hour of the day has its own dignity and charm · Preface to Winter, 1726

“Where can we meet with such variety, such beauty, such magnificence? All that enlarges and transports the soul?”

Nature presented as inexhaustible spectacle and enlargement of the mind · Preface to Winter, 1726

“I know no subject more elevating, more amusing, more ready to awake the poetical enthusiasm, the philosophical reflection, and the moral sentiment than the works of Nature.”

A defence of nature as the highest subject for poetry, philosophy, and moral feeling · Preface to the second edition of Winter, 1726