Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyts New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Twilight
The sunbeams dropped Their gold, and, passing in porch and niche, Softened to shadows, silvery, pale, and dim, As if the very Day paused and grew Eve. Edwin ArnoldLight of Asia. Bk. II. L. 466.
Fair Venus shines Even in the eye of day; with sweetest beam Propitious shines, and shakes a trembling flood Of softened radiance from her dewy locks. Anna Letitia BarbauldA Summer Evenings Meditation. L. 10.
The summer day is closed, the sun is set: Well they have done their office, those bright hours, The latest of whose train goes softly out In the red west. BryantAn Evening Reverie.
Parting day Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues With a new colour as it gasps away, The last still loveliest, tilltis goneand all is gray. ByronChilde Harold. Canto IV. St. 29.
Twas twilight, and the sunless day went down Over the waste of waters; like a veil, Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown Of one whose hate is maskd but to assail. ByronDon Juan. Canto II. St. 49.
How lovely are the portals of the night, When stars come out to watch the daylight die. Thomas ColeTwilight. See Louis L. Nobles Life and Works of Cole. Ch. XXXV.
In the twilight of morning to climb to the top of the mountain, Thee to salute, kindly star, earliest herald of day, And to await, with impatience, the gaze of the ruler of heaven. Youthful delight, oh, how oft lurst thou me out in the night. GoetheVenetian Epigrams.
Sweet shadows of twilight! how calm their repose, While the dewdrops fall soft in the breast of the rose! How blest to the toiler his hour of release When the vesper is heard with its whisper of peace! HolmesPoems of the Class of 29. Our Banker. St. 12.
The gloaming comes, the day is spent, The sun goes out of sight, And painted is the occident With purple sanguine bright. Alexander HumeStory of a Summer Day.
The sun is set; and in his latest beams Yon little cloud of ashen gray and gold, Slowly upon the amber air unrolled, The falling mantle of the Prophet seems. LongfellowA Summer Day by the Sea.
The west is broken into bars Of orange, gold, and gray; Gone is the sun, come are the stars, And night infolds the day. George MacDonaldSongs of the Summer Nights.
From that high mount of God whence light and shade Spring both, the face of brightest heaven had changed To grateful twilight. MiltonParadise Lost. Bk. V. L. 643.
Our lady of the twilight, She hath such gentle hands, So lovely are the gifts she brings From out the sunset-lands, So bountiful, so merciful, So sweet of soul is she; And over all the world she draws Her cloak of charity. Alfred NoyesOur Lady of the Twilight.
* * * th approach of night The skies yet blushing with departing light, When falling dews with spangles deckd the glade, And the low sun had lengthend evry shade. PopePastorals. Autumn. L. 98.
Twilights soft dews steal oer the village-green, With magic tints to harmonize the scene. Stilled is the hum that through the hamlet broke When round the ruins of their ancient oak The peasants flocked to hear the minstrel play, And games and carols closed the busy day. Saml RogersPleasures of Memory. Pt. I. L. 1.
Then the nun-like twilight came, violet-vestured and still, And the nights first star outshone afar on the eve of Bunker Hill. Clinton ScollardOn the Eve of Bunker Hill.
Ah, County Guy, the hour is nigh, The sun has left the lea, The orange flower perfumes the bower, The breeze is on the sea. ScottQuentin Durward. Ch. IV.
The weary sun hath made a golden set, And, by the bright track of his fiery car, Gives signal of a goodly day to-morrow. Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 19.
Twilight, ascending slowly from the east, Entwined in duskier wreaths her braided locks Oer the fair front and radiant eyes of day; Night followed, clad with stars. ShelleyAlastor.
Now the soft hour Of walking comes; for him who lonely loves To seek the distant hills, and there converse With Nature, there to harmonize his heart, And in pathetic Song to breathe around The harmony to others. ThomsonSeasons. Summer. L. 1,378.