Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRSwas an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. He entered Parliament early and was at first an active member of the opposition. In 1631 he married a London heiress who died in 1634. Later he became a Royalist, and in 1643 was leader in a plot to seize London for Charles I. For this he was imprisoned,...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth3 March 1606
may pay satire
Lampoons, like squibs, may make a present blaze; but time and thunder pay respect to bays.
ocean may use
Others may use the ocean as their road; Only the English make it their abode.
men stronger weakness
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become.
good-night lying light
Since thou wouldst needs, bewitched with some ill charms, Be buried in those monumental arms: As we can wish, is, may that earth lie light Upon thy tender limbs, and so good night.
light suffering retired
Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retired: Bid her come forth, Suffer herself to be desired, And not blush so to be admired.
grief moving circles
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love, Did all within this circle move!
soul guests doe
And as pale sickness does invade, Your frailer part, the breaches made, In that fair lodging still more clear, Make the bright guest, your soul, appear.
should-have half improvement
Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
fear joy vex
The fear of God is freedom, joy, and peace; And makes all ills that vex us here to cease.
art entertainment merit
If its length be not considered a merit, it hath no other.
world admire retiring
Happy is she that from the world retires, and carries with her what the world admires.
wisdom book practice
With wisdom fraught; not such as books, but such as practice taught.
art war age
Ingenious to their ruin, every age improves the art and instruments of rage.
blood flesh vices
But virtue too, as well as vice, is clad in flesh and blood.