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Retrospection

By William Lisle Bowles

Topics: classic

I turn these leaves with thronging thoughts, and say,     Alas! how many friends of youth are dead;     How many visions of fair hope have fled,     Since first, my Muse, we met. So speeds away     Life, and its shadows; yet we sit and sing,     Stretched in the noontide bower, as if the day     Declined not, and we yet might trill our lay     Beneath the pleasant morning's purple wing     That fans us; while aloft the gay clouds shine!     Oh, ere the coming of the long cold night,     Religion, may we bless thy purer light,     That still shall warm us, when the tints decline     O'er earth's dim hemisphere; and sad we gaze     On the vain visions of our passing days!

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"I turn these leaves with thronging thoughts, and say,..."

Exploring the themes of classic, William Lisle Bowles delivers a powerful performance in "Retrospection"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:William Lisle Bowles

"I turn these leaves with thronging thoughts, and s..." by William Lisle Bowles

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

William Lisle Bowles

About William Lisle Bowles

William Lisle Bowles is a distinguished poet whose works have shaped the landscape of English literature. Their poetry explores the depths of human emotion, nature, love, and philosophical thought through powerful and evocative verse. Readers continue to find solace, inspiration, and beauty in their timeless words.

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