"Most musical, most melancholy" bird!
A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought!
In nature there is nothing melancholy.
But some night-wandering man, whose heart was pierced
With the remembrance of a grievous wrong,
Or slow distemper, or neglected love,
(And so, poor wretch! filled all things with himself,
And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale
Of his own sorrow) he, and such as he,
First named these notes a melancholy strain.


The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem, lines 13-22 (1798)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Quotes

Most musical, most melancholy bird! A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought! In nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man, whose...

Most musical, most melancholy bird! A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought! In nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man, whose...

Most musical, most melancholy bird! A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought! In nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man, whose...

Most musical, most melancholy bird! A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought! In nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man, whose...