Date: 1796

"Some hurt themselves by flippant WIT, / As too much GAS, balloons will split;-- / With buoyant splendour, up they rise, / The spirit bursts, the bubble dies."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"The effect [of wit on the mind] is strong,--because it's odd, / Like fire electric from a clod; / Or when fix'd air puts out a light, / Tho' vital makes it blaze more bright."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1799

"Soul-chearing rays" may be eclipsed

— Seward, Anna (1742-1809)

Date: 1807

"Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart."

— Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)

Date: 1825

"Vulgar passions--meteors of a day"--"expire before the chilling blasts of age"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1883

"Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars / With memory of the old revolt from Awe, / He reached a middle height, and at the stars, / Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank"

— Meredith, George (1828-1909)

Date: April 21, 2014

"The old gag about LPs being like gasoline / Puddles that go up and dizzy us / With their fumes, and of middle age / Rotating us out of Earth's orbit, stars like / A corrupted computer file / And the forgetful mind, a red-topped / Tupperware when we were young / Now without gravity or capacity li...

— Greenbaum, Jessica