"How, then, was the Devil dressed? Oh! he was in his Sundays best; His coat was red, and his breeches were blue, And there was a hole where his tail came through."
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a radical but became steadily more conservative as he gained respect for Britain and its institutions. Other romantics such as Byron accused him of siding with the establishment for money and status. He i
"A considerable stir was being made (1795) by two youthful advocates of revolution, who were trying to rouse the people of Bristol. These two young men who protested boldly against the war, the ministry and the established church and social order were Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Colerige."
Robert Southey"The arts babblative and scribblative."
Robert Southey"Will ye believe The wonders of the ocean? how its shoals Sprang from the wave, like flashing light; .. took wing, And, twinkling with a silver glitterance, Flew through the air and sunshine? yet were they To sight less wondrous than the tribe who swam, Following like fowlers, with uplifted eye, Their falling quarry: .. language cannot paint Their splendid tints! though in blue ocean seen, Blue, darkly, deeply, beautifully blue, In all its rich variety of shades, Suffusd with glowing gold."
Robert Southey"Write poetry for its own sake — not in a spirit of emulation, and not with a view to celebrity; the less you aim at that the more likely you will be to deserve and finally to obtain it."
Robert Southey"It was a summer evening, Old Kaspars work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun, And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine."
Robert Southey"What will not woman, gentle woman dare, When strong affection stirs her spirit up?"
Robert Southey