Light Shining out of Darkness

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;     The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break     In blessings on your head. -William Cowper, Light Shining Out of Darkness, 1772

Descending Glow

Meanwhile the sun paus'd ere it should alight, Over the horizon of the mountains--Oh, How beautiful is sunset, when the glow Of Heaven descends upon a land like thee, -Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo (excerpt), 1824

Chasing Light

Swift rush the spectral vapours white Past limestone scars with ragged pines, Showing--then blotting from our sight!-- Halt--through the cloud-drift something shines! -Matthew Arnold, Stanzas From the Grande Chartreuse, 1824

Wondrous Hue

And aëry Alps towards the North appear'd Through mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark rear'd Between the East and West; and half the sky Was roof'd with clouds of rich emblazonry Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew Down the steep West into a wondrous hue Brighter than burning gold, even to the rent Where the swift sun yet paus'd in his descent -Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo (excerpt), 1824

A Lake I Behold

Here are the Alpine landscapes which create     A fund for contemplation; to admire     Is a brief feeling of a trivial date;       But something worthier do such scenes inspire:     Here to be lonely is not desolate,     For much I view which I could most desire,     And, above all, a lake I can behold Lovelier, not dearer, than our own of old. -George Gordon, Lord Byron, Epistle to Augusta, 1830