Date: 1782
"Let Critic Reason all her light diffuse / O'er the wide empire of this injur'd [Epic] Muse"
preview | full record— Hayley, William (1745-1820)
Date: 1784
"I hurry forward, passion's helplesss slave! And scorning reason's mild and sober light, / Pursue the path that leads me to the grave!"
preview | full record— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Date: 1820
"Pity the self-despising slaves of Heaven, / Not me, within whose mind sits peace serene, / As light in the sun, throned."
preview | full record— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)