“Where can we meet with such variety, such beauty, such magnificence?…” — James Thomson | V2Melody

“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

About James Thomson

James Thomson

c. 11 September 1700–27 August 1748

James Thomson, born about 11 September 1700 at Ednam in Roxburghshire and dead on 27 August 1748 at Richmond in Surrey, was among the most consequential poets of eighteenth-century Britain. A Scottish writer who made his career in London, he achieved a rare combination of popularity, literary innovation, and long…

More by James Thomson

Poems by James Thomson

More remarks by James Thomson

“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

“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

“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