C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.

Swan

The swan, like the soul of the poet,
By the dull world is ill understood.

Heine.

The swan murmurs sweet strains with a faltering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge.

Martial.

The swan, with arched neck
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
Her state with oary feet.

Milton.

The swan in the pool is singing,
And up and down doth he steer,
And, singing gently ever,
Dips under the water clear.

Heine.

As I have seen a swan
With bootless labour swim against the tide
And spend her strength with over-matching waves.

Shakespeare.

The stately-sailing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale;
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle,
Protective of his young.

Thomson.

And over the pond are sailing
Two swans all white as snow;
Sweet voices mysteriously wailing
Pierce through me as onward they go.
They sail along, and a ringing
Sweet melody rises on high;
And when the swans begin singing,
They presently must die.

Heine.

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