Zephyr
Appearance
Zephyr is a light or west wind, a wind that blows from the west, in an eastward direction. In Western tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds. In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the personification of the west wind and the bringer of light spring and early summer breezes; his Roman equivalent was Favonius. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus was the attendant of Cupid, who brought Psyche to his master's palace.
Quotes
[edit]- Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume,
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gul in her bloom.- Lord Byron, The Bride of Abydos (1813), Canto I, Stanza 1.
- Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows.
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), Part II, line 366.
- And soften'd sounds along the waters die:
Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play.- Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (1712), Canto II, line 50.
- Soft o'er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe,
That seemed but zephyrs to the train beneath.- Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (1712), Canto II, line 58.
Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations
[edit]- Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 925-26.
- Let Zephyr only breathe
And with her tresses play.- William Drummond of Hawthornden, song, Phæbus, Arise.
- While the wanton Zephyr sings,
And in the vale perfumes his wings.- John Dyer, Gronger Hill.
- Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows.
- Thomas Gray, The Bard, I, 2, line 9.
- * And soon
Their hushing dances languished to a stand,
Like midnight leaves when, as the Zephyrs swoon,
All on their drooping sterns they sink unfanned.- Thomas Hood, The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies.
- And on the balmy zephyrs tranquil rest
The silver clouds.- John Keats, Posthumous Poems. Sonnets. Oh! How I Love on a Fair Summer's Eve.
- Lull'd by soft zephyrs thro' the broken pane.
- Alexander Pope, Prologue to Satires, line 42.
- The balmy zephyrs, silent since her death,
Lament the ceasing of a sweeter breath.- Alexander Pope, Winter, line 45.