William Sidney Walker
English Shakespearean critic
William Sidney Walker (4 December 1795 – 15 October 1846) was an English Shakespearean scholar and poet.
Quotes
edit- Too solemn for day, too sweet for night,
Come not in darkness, come not in light;
But come in some twilight interim,
When the gloom is soft, and the light is dim.- "The Lover's Song", st. 6, translating a passage of Lucian. Poetical Remains (1852), p. 33
- Goshen-spots,
Aye bright with spiritual sunshine.- "To B. H. Kennedy", ll. 5–6. Poetical Remains (1852), p. 41
About
edit- It is a known circumstance that when, at six years old, the tailor came to measure him for his first suit, he was sent into what was called Sidney’s little study, a small quiet room he much favoured; and on the man stating his errand, and his mother repeating it, Sidney said, “I am reading, come and tell me about this line; I cannot tell quite what Milton means here.” To which the man replied, “I know nothing about books, Sir, I am come to take your measure for your new clothes;” and poor Sidney was obliged to put down his Milton, saying, in his always sweet manner when a child “I am so sorry you do not know about such books, they would make you so happy.”
- Anecdote reported by the author's elderly mother, published in The Poetical Remains of William Sidney Walker, ... with a Memoir, ed. J. Moultrie (1852), pp. iv–v
