What though my winge'  d hours of bliss have been, Like angel-visits, fewand far between? 186

-Campbell,Thomas
  The Pleasures of Hope, pt.2, l.375^6.

Lo! the poor toper whose untutored sense, Sees bliss in ale, and can with wine dispense; Whose head proud fancy never taught to steer, Beyond the muddy ecstasies of beer.

-Crabbe, George
  Inebriety, a Poem, pt.1, l.132^5.

What heaven-entreated heart is this, Stands trembling at the gate of bliss, Holds fast the door, yet dares not venture Fairly to open it, and enter?

-Crashaw, Richard
  'To the Noblest and Best of Ladies, the Countess of Denbigh'.

My mind to me a kingdom is; Such perfect joy therein I find That it excels all other bliss That world affords or grows by kind. Though much I want which most men have, Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

-Dyer, Sir Edward
  'In Praise of a Contented Mind'.

Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  'Whispers of Immortality'.

To each his suff'rings, all are men, Condemned alike to groan; The tender for another's pain, Th'unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! why should they know their fate? Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies. Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.

-Gray,Thomas
  Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (published1747), l.91^100.

Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, Whose words are images of thoughts refined, Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

-Keats,John
  'O Solitude! If I Must withThee Dwell'.

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

-Keats,John
  Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St.  Agnes and Other Poems,'Ode on a Grecian Urn', stanza 2.

Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: Thinkst thou that I who saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells In being deprived of everlasting bliss!

-Marlowe, Christopher
c.1592  Doctor Faustus (published1604), act1, sc.3.

When his darling sons Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse Their frail original, and faded bliss, Faded so soon.

-Milton,John
  Beelzebub. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.2, l.373^6.

These two Emparadised in one another's arms The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill Of bliss on bliss.

-Milton,John
  Of  Adam and Eve. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.4, l.505^8.

Flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.

-Milton,John
   Adam to Eve. Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.9, l.914^16.

Some dish more sharply spiced than this Milk-soup men call domestic bliss.

-Patmore, Coventry Kersey Dighton
Olympus (published1906).

Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.

-Shelley, Mary Godwin
  Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein, ch.10.

Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, we who were strong in love! Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!

-Wordsworth,William
  'The French Revolution as it appeared to enthusiasts at its commencement', l.1^5 (published in The Friend, 26 Oct.1809).

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart wih pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

-Wordsworth,William
  'I wandered lonely as a cloud', stanza 4 (published1807).