Cecil Day Lewis, CBE (27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972) was an Irish poet, the British Poet Laureate between 1968 to 1972, and, under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake, a mystery writer. He was the father of the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and the TYV star Tamasin Day-Lewis.
Born: April 27th, 1904
Died: May 22nd, 1972
Categories: Irish poets, Anthologists, Poets laureate, 1970s deaths
Quotes: 12 sourced quotes total (includes 2 about)
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Shall I be gone long? For ever and a day To whom there belong? Ask the stone to say Ask my song.
It is the logic of our times, No subject for immortal verse— That we who lived by honest dreams Defend the bad against the worse.
They who in folly or mere greed Enslaved religion, markets, laws, Borrow our language now and bid Us to speak up in freedom's cause.
It's hard to believe a spirit could die Of such generous glow
Is it birthday weather for you, dear soul? Is it fine your way
Tempt me no more, for I Have known the lightning's hour, The poet's inward pride, The certainty of power.
Who will say farewell? The beating bell. Will anyone miss me? That I dare not tell — Quick, Rose, and kiss me.
Put out the lights now! Look at the Tree, the rough tree dazzled In oriole plumes of flame, Tinselled with twinkling frost fire, tasselled With stars and moons
So feast your eyes now On mimic star and moon-cold bauble: Worlds may wither unseen, But the Christmas Tree is a tree of fable, A phoenix in evergreen
Do not expect again the phoenix hour, The triple-towered sky, the dove's complaining, Sudden the rain of gold and heart's first ease Traced under trees by the eldritch light of sundown.
I have had worse partings, but none that so Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly Saying what God alone could perfectly show — How selfhood begins with a walking away, And Jove is proved in the letting go.
Nigel's six feet sprawled all over the place; his gestures were nervous and little uncouth; a lock of sandy coloured hair dropping over his forehead, and the deceptive naïveté of his face in repose gave him a resemblance to an overgrown prep. schoolboy. His eyes were the same blue as his uncle's, but shortsighted and noncommittal. Yet there was an underlying similarity between the two. A latent, sardonic humor in their conversation, a friendliness and simple generosity in their smiles, and that impression of energy in reserve which is always given by those who possess an abundance of life directed towards consciously-realised aims.