“The Vestal, with her silvery content, The Lesbian, with the passion and the pain,— Which creature hath their one Creator lent More light of heaven? Who would dare restrain The beams of either? who the radiance mar Of the white planet or the burning star?”
Quotes by Edmund Clarence Stedman
“The lady to her knightly guest's salute Turned her face full, so that he marked her eyes,— How dewy gray beneath each long, black lid, And danger somewhere in their light lay hid. There are some natures housed so chaste within Their placid dwellings that their heads control The tumult of their hearts; and thus they win A quittance from this pleading of the soul For Love, whose service does so wound and heal; How should they crave for what they cannot feel? From passion and from pain enfranchised quite, Alike from gain and never-stanched Regret, Calm as the blind who have not seen the light, The dumb who hear no precious voice; and yet The sun forever pours his lambent fire And the high winds are vocal with desire.”
“Yet the son Seemed worthy, for his parts were of that mould Oft-failing Nature strives to join in one, And shape a hero,—pure and wise and bold: In arts and arms the wonder of his peers, The flower of princes, prince of cavaliers;”
Edmund Clarence StedmanEdmund Clarence Stedman was a multifaceted American poet, critic, and essayist whose work spanned the realms of literature and finance. Born in 1833, he began his career in banking while simultaneousl...