WIST Quotations

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Poem (1920-03), “Spring,” ll. 16-18

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:01:20 +0000

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Poem (1920-03), “Spring,” ll. 16-18

First published in The Chapbook, Vol. 2, No. 13 (1920-07). Collected in Second April (1921). A handwritten draft was dated 1920-03-21.

Graham Greene's Babbling April (1925) was named after these lines.

Edda, Poetic -- Völuspá [Prophecy of the Völva; Prophecy of the Seeress], st. 59 (AD 961) [tr. Bellows (1936)]

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:35:39 +0000

Now do I see
the earth anew
Rise all green
from the waves again;
The cataracts fall,
and the eagle flies,
And fish he catches
beneath the cliffs.

[Sér hon upp koma
ǫðru sinni
jǫrð ór ægi,
iðjagrœna;
falla forsar,
flýgr ǫrn yfir,
sá er á fjalli
fiska veiðir.]

Poetic Edda (800-1100) Old Norse anonymous collection of poems
Völuspá [Prophecy of the Völva; Prophecy of the Seeress], st. 59 (AD 961) [tr. Bellows (1936)]
(Source)

The rebirth of the world after Ragnarok. Narrated by Heiðr.

(Source (Old Norse)), Other translations:

She sees at last emerge from the ocean,
An earth in every part flourishing.
The cataracts flow down;
The eagle flies aloft;
And hunt the fishes in the mountains.
[tr. Turner (1836); st. 46]

She sees arise, a second time, earth from ocean, beauteously green, waterfalls descending; the eagle flying over, which in the fell captures fish.
[tr. Thorpe (1866); st. 57]

She sees, coming up a second time,
Earth from the ocean, eternally green;
the waterfall plunges, an eagle soars over it,
hunting fish on the mountain.
[tr. Larrington (2014); st. 59]

She sees coming up for a second time
earth, green again, from the sea;
waterfalls tumble, an eagle flies above,
the one who hunts fish on the fell.
[tr. Pettit (2023); st. 57]

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Poem (1911), “Renascence” in Earle (ed.), The Lyric Year (1912)

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 22:57:24 +0000

Ah! Up then from the ground sprang I
And hailed the Earth with such a cry
As is not heard save from a man
Who has been dead, and lives again.
About the trees my arms I wound;
Like one gone mad I hugged the ground;
I raised my quivering arms on high;
I laughed and laughed into the sky.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Poem (1911), “Renascence” in Earle (ed.), The Lyric Year (1912)
(Source)

Collected in Renascence and Other Poems (1917).

Mackay, Charles -- Poem (1849?), “There Is No Such Thing as Death”

Dave — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 16:26:37 +0000

There is no such thing as death.
In nature nothing dies.
From each sad remnant of decay
Some forms of life arise.

Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Poem (1849?), “There Is No Such Thing as Death”

This poem is widely attributed to Mackay, but there is reason to doubt this. I was unable to find the poem in any collection of Mackay poetry.

The earliest reference I can find to the passage is in Eliza Cook's Journal, No. 34 (1849-12-22), where this is part of st. 3 of the poem. It is identified there as being written by Charlotte Young. I cannot find any other attributions to Young for this poem (and cannot find out anything more about a poet by that name who would have been writing in 1849).

The poem (with various numbers of stanzas) was very popular in the last half of the 19th Century, appearing as newspaper filler, memorial bulletins, and books of hymns and sacred poetry alike. All of these uses of it have the poem unattributed or "Anonymous" (earliest: 1857-02, 1859-11, 1859-11-17, 1859-12-17, 1860-02-15, 1860-08-28). Further use of the poem, unattributed, continue through the rest of the 19th Century.

In an "Answers from Readers" column in the New York Times (1913-11-23), the poem (well, the full stanza) is asserted to have written by Mackay; that is the earliest such attribution I can find.

In Kate Louis Roberts, ed., Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922), it (just this portion) is also identified as being written by Mackay; after that, Mackay is credited in all sources I can find.

In summary, Mackay has become associated with this poem, most strongly by an attribution the popular Hoyt's in 1922, though there is at least one earlier reference. Prior to that it was identified for a number of decades, even after Mackay's death, as Anonymous, with the earliest reference I can find attributing it to a Charlotte Young.

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- Learning to Walk in the Dark, ch. 6 (2014)

Dave — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 18:18:29 +0000

As many years as I have been listening to Easter sermons, I have never heard anyone talk about that part. Resurrection is always announced with Easter lilies, the sound of trumpets, bright streaming light. But it did not happen that way. If it happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air. Sitting deep in the heart of Organ Cave, I let this sink in: new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Learning to Walk in the Dark, ch. 6 (2014)
(Source)

Snyder, Timothy -- The Red Prince, “Orange: European Revolutions” (2008)

Dave — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:48:45 +0000

The nation faces forward. It is made and remade every day. If we believe that the nation resides in the orderly recitations of history given to us by our leaders, then our story is over.

Timothy Snyder (b. 1969) American historian, author
The Red Prince, “Orange: European Revolutions” (2008)
(Source)

Baldwin, James -- “Every Good-Bye Ain’t Gone,” New York Times (19 Dec 1977)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
“Every Good-Bye Ain’t Gone,” New York Times (19 Dec 1977)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Price of the Ticket (1985).