William Drummond of Hawthornden

God never had a church but there, men say, The Devil a chapel hath raised by some wyles.

William Drummond of Hawthornden (13 December 1585 – 4 December 1649) was a Scottish poet.

Quotes

This Life, which seems so fair,
Is like a bubble blown up in the air
By sporting children's breath,
Who chase it every where

• The last and greatest herald of Heaven's King,
  Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild,
  Among that savage brood the woods forth bring,
  Which he than man more harmless found and mild.
  • "For the Baptist" Flowers of Sion (1623).

• My lute, be as thou wert when thou didst grow
  With thy green mother in some shady grove,
  When immelodious winds but made thee move,
  And birds their ramage did on thee bestow.
  • To His Lute

• My thoughts hold mortal strife;
  I do detest my life,
  And with lamenting cries
  Peace to my soul to bring
  Oft call that prince which here doth monarchise:
  — But he, grim-grinning King,
  Who caitiffs scorns, and doth the blest surprise,
  Late having deck'd with beauty's rose his tomb,
  Disdains to crop a weed, and will not come.
  • Inexorable

• This Life, which seems so fair,
  Is like a bubble blown up in the air
  By sporting children's breath,
  Who chase it every where
  • This Life, which seems so fair

• Of this fair volume which we World do name
  If we the sheets and leaves could turn with care,
  Of him who it corrects, and did it frame,
  We clear might read the art and wisdom rare.
  • Human Folly

• Doth then the world go thus, doth all thus move?
  Is this the justice which on Earth we find?
  Is this that firm decree which all doth bind?
  Are these your influences, Powers above?
  • The Problem.

• God never had a church but there, men say,
  The Devil a chapel hath raised by some wyles.
  I doubted of this saw, till on a day
  I westward spied great Edinburgh’s Saint Gyles.
  • Posthumous Poems, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Section 4, Member 1, Subsection 1 .

Poems (1616)

• What doth it serve to see sun's burning face,
  And skies enamelled with both the Indies' gold?
  Or moon at night in jetty chariot roll'd,
  And all the glory of that starry place?
  • "What doth it Serve?"

• For what doth serve all that this world contains,
  Sith she for whom those once to me were dear,
  No part of them can have now with me here?
  • "What doth it Serve?"

• Phœbus, arise!
  And paint the sable skies
  With azure, white, and red.
  • "Phoebus Arise".

• Make an eternal spring;
  Give life to this dark world which lieth dead.
  Spread forth thy golden hair
  In larger locks than thou wast wont before,
  And emperor-like decore
  With diadem of pearl thy temples fair.
  • "Phoebus Arise".

• This is the morn should bring unto this grove
  My love, to hear and recompense my love.
  • "Phoebus Arise".

• Here is the pleasant place,
  And nothing wanted is, save She, alas!
  • "Phoebus Arise".

External links

• Sonnets of William Drummond
• William Drummond at Poet's Corner
• Selected Poetry at the University of Toronto