The river Thames that by our door doth pass,
His first beginning is but small and shallow;
Yet, keeping on his course, grows to a sea.
His first beginning is but small and shallow;
Yet, keeping on his course, grows to a sea.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
Thames, maiden Thames,
Glancing, shining
Silver-blue;
While for you
The lilied stems
Are pining.
Ah! thou lovest best to play
Slily with the wanton swallow,
While he whispers thee to follow
Him away.
Glancing, shining
Silver-blue;
While for you
The lilied stems
Are pining.
Ah! thou lovest best to play
Slily with the wanton swallow,
While he whispers thee to follow
Him away.
ALEXANDER HUME BUTLER, "Thames", Poems Written in Barracks
See, this regal Thames is winding
Among its poplared islands with a slow majestic pace;
We should see the towers of Windsor if the sun were not so blinding,
It casts a glow on all the trees, and a glory on your face.
Among its poplared islands with a slow majestic pace;
We should see the towers of Windsor if the sun were not so blinding,
It casts a glow on all the trees, and a glory on your face.
BESSIE RAYNER BELLOC, "Up the River"
The Thames was beautiful, dark, and swift beneath the billion yellow and white lights of the city ...
CHARLES FINCH
From his oozy bed
Old father Thames advanced his reverend head;
His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream
His shining horns diffused a golden gleam:
Graved on his urn appear'd the moon, that guides
His swelling waters, and alternate tides;
The figured streams in waves of silver roll'd,
And on their banks Augusta rose in gold.
Old father Thames advanced his reverend head;
His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream
His shining horns diffused a golden gleam:
Graved on his urn appear'd the moon, that guides
His swelling waters, and alternate tides;
The figured streams in waves of silver roll'd,
And on their banks Augusta rose in gold.
ALEXANDER POPE
Fair Thames she haunts, and every neighb'ring grove,
Sacred to soft recess and gentle love.
Sacred to soft recess and gentle love.
MATTHEW PRIOR, "Cloe Hunting", The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior
The moonlight rests, with solemn smile,
On sylvan shore and willowy isle:
While Thames, beneath the imaged beam,
Rolls on his deep and silent stream.
The wasting wind of autumn sighs:
The oak's discolored foliage flies:
The grove, in deeper shadow cast,
Waves darkly in the eddying blast.
On sylvan shore and willowy isle:
While Thames, beneath the imaged beam,
Rolls on his deep and silent stream.
The wasting wind of autumn sighs:
The oak's discolored foliage flies:
The grove, in deeper shadow cast,
Waves darkly in the eddying blast.
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK, "Genius of the Thames"
But her own king she likens to his Thames;
Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,
Swift without violence, without terror great.
Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,
Swift without violence, without terror great.
MATTHEW PRIOR, "Carmen Seculare"
Thames' fruitful tides
Slow through the vale in silver volumes play.
Slow through the vale in silver volumes play.
ELIJAH FENTON, "An Ode to the Right. Hon. John Lord Gower", The Poems of Pomfret and Fenton
Even now, methinks, in solemn guise,
By yonder willowy islet grey,
I see thee, sedge-crowned Genius! rise,
And point the glories of the way.
Tall reeds around thy temples play;
Thy hair the liquid crystal gems:
To thee I pour the votive lay,
Oh Genius of the silver Thames!
By yonder willowy islet grey,
I see thee, sedge-crowned Genius! rise,
And point the glories of the way.
Tall reeds around thy temples play;
Thy hair the liquid crystal gems:
To thee I pour the votive lay,
Oh Genius of the silver Thames!
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK, "Genius of the Thames"
My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
Where Thames along the wanton valley strays.
Thames! the most loved of all the Ocean's sons,
By his old sire, to his embraces runs.
Where Thames along the wanton valley strays.
Thames! the most loved of all the Ocean's sons,
By his old sire, to his embraces runs.
J. DENHAM, attributed, Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson
The Thames is like a great tidal pool ... It not only rushes on its way but goes up and down, tossing things and people, sucking entire lives down and out into the vast sea.
KAREN HARPER, The Tidal Poole
Through the free homes of England flow, and may yet higher fames,
Still nobler glories, star your course, O my own native Thames!
Still nobler glories, star your course, O my own native Thames!
WILLIAM COX BENNETT, "The Glories of Our Thames"
Let the Rhine by blue and bright
In its path of liquid light,
Where the red grapes fling a beam
Of glory on the stream;
Let the gorgeous beauty there
Mingle all that's rich and fair;
Yet to me it ne'er could be
Like that river great and free,
The Thames! the mighty Thames!
In its path of liquid light,
Where the red grapes fling a beam
Of glory on the stream;
Let the gorgeous beauty there
Mingle all that's rich and fair;
Yet to me it ne'er could be
Like that river great and free,
The Thames! the mighty Thames!
ELIZA COOK
O ROVING Muse! recall that wondrous year
When winter reigned in bleak Britannia's air;
When hoary Thames, with frosted osiers crowned,
Was three long moons in icy fetters bound.
The waterman, forlorn, along the shore,
Pensive reclines upon his useless oar:
See harnessed steeds desert the stony town,
And wander roads unstable not their own:
Wheels o'er the hardened water smoothly glide,
And raze with whitened tracks the slippery tide;
Here the fat cook piles high the blazing fire,
And scarce the spit can turn the steer entire;
Booths sudden hide the Thames, long streets appear,
And numerous games proclaim the crowded fair.
So, when the general bids the martial train
Spread their encampment o'er the spacious plain,
Thick-rising tents a canvas city build,
And the loud dice resound through all the field.
When winter reigned in bleak Britannia's air;
When hoary Thames, with frosted osiers crowned,
Was three long moons in icy fetters bound.
The waterman, forlorn, along the shore,
Pensive reclines upon his useless oar:
See harnessed steeds desert the stony town,
And wander roads unstable not their own:
Wheels o'er the hardened water smoothly glide,
And raze with whitened tracks the slippery tide;
Here the fat cook piles high the blazing fire,
And scarce the spit can turn the steer entire;
Booths sudden hide the Thames, long streets appear,
And numerous games proclaim the crowded fair.
So, when the general bids the martial train
Spread their encampment o'er the spacious plain,
Thick-rising tents a canvas city build,
And the loud dice resound through all the field.
JOHN GAY, "The Frozen River"
Thames' fruitful tides
Slow through the vale in silver volumes play.
Slow through the vale in silver volumes play.
ELIJAH FENTON, "An Ode to the Right. Hon. John Lord Gower", The Poems of Pomfret and Fenton
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Fair Thames she haunts, and every neighb'ring grove,
Sacred to soft recess and gentle love.
Sacred to soft recess and gentle love.
MATTHEW PRIOR, "Cloe Hunting", The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior
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The River Thames is ancient; older than England, older than humanity, even older than the British Isles themselves. Its life cycle operates on a geological timescale. The river is almost a living being, writhing sinuously across its flood plain, eroding its banks and altering its channel, constantly changing.
ANDREW SARGENT, The Story of the Thames
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Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.
JOHN DENHAM, The Thames
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It is a mere rivulet compared with the greatest rivers in the world: the Nile in Africa, the Mississippi in North America, the Amazon in South America, the Ganges in India, the Yangtze in China, to name only a few. It is shorter and less impressive than the Danube, the Rhine, the Loire or the Seine in Europe; it is not even the longest river in Britain. Yet who would deny that the Thames is more an avenue of history than any other waterway, that it is a national river in a way that the other rivers are not?
JONATHAN SCHNEER, preface, The Thames
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One walks the Thames less for the scenery than for the history. Almost every mile brings to mind a historical event or a work of art or literature.
JONATHAN SCHNEER, preface, The Thames
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The Thames is as inexhaustible a subject as English history itself.
JONATHAN SCHNEER, preface, The Thames
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The Thames is like a great tidal pool ... It not only rushes on its way but goes up and down, tossing things and people, sucking entire lives down and out into the vast sea.
KAREN HARPER, The Tidal Poole
Thou who shalt stop where Thames' translucent wave
Shines a broad mirror through the shadowy cave,
Where lingering drops from mineral roofs distil,
And pointed crystals break the sparkling rill,
Unpolished gems no ray on pride bestow,
And latent metals innocently glow:
Approach. Great nature studiously behold!
And eye the mine without a wish for gold.
Approach: but awful! Lo the Egerian grot,
Where, nobly pensive, St. John sate and thought;
Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole,
And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul.
Let such, such only, tread the sacred floor,
Who dare to love their country and be poor.
Shines a broad mirror through the shadowy cave,
Where lingering drops from mineral roofs distil,
And pointed crystals break the sparkling rill,
Unpolished gems no ray on pride bestow,
And latent metals innocently glow:
Approach. Great nature studiously behold!
And eye the mine without a wish for gold.
Approach: but awful! Lo the Egerian grot,
Where, nobly pensive, St. John sate and thought;
Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole,
And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul.
Let such, such only, tread the sacred floor,
Who dare to love their country and be poor.
ALEXANDER POPE, "On His Grotto at Twickenham"
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O, clear are England's waters all, her rivers, streams, and rills,
Flowing stilly through her valleys lone and winding by her hills;
But river, stream, or rivulet through all her breadth who names
For beauty and for pleasantness with our own pleasant Thames?
Flowing stilly through her valleys lone and winding by her hills;
But river, stream, or rivulet through all her breadth who names
For beauty and for pleasantness with our own pleasant Thames?
WILLIAM COX BENNETT, "The Glories of Our Thames", Songs of a Song Writer
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The Thames is liquid history.
JOHN BURNS, attributed, Front-Line Thames
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London's river Thames in the 18th century was not quite what it is like today. England flourished with thousands of habitats; the city's trash flowed directly to the river, which acted as a heartline for London. Marine life started to die due to pollution, sewage, Industrial waste and by 1957 Thames was declared "biologically dead" by the Natural History Museum.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES, "How Thames became one of the cleanest rivers", May 26, 2017
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The Thames shouldered its way past Blackfriars Bridge, impatient with the ancient piers, no longer the passive stream that slid past Chelsea Marina, but a rush of ugly water that had scented the open sea and was ready to make a run for it.
J. G. BALLARD, Millennium People
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The yellow leaves begin to fade
And flutter from the Temple elms,
And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.
And flutter from the Temple elms,
And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.
OSCAR WILDE, "Symphony in Yellow"
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Where Thames along the daisied meads
His wave in lucid mazes leads,
Silent, slow, serenely flowing,
Wealth on either side bestowing,
There in a safe though small retreat,
Content and Love have fixed their seat--
Love, that counts his duty pleasure;
Content, that knows and hugs his treasure.
From art, from jealousy secure,
As faith unblamed, as friendship pure,
Vain opinion nobly scorning,
Virtue aiding, life adorning,
Fair Thames, along thy flowery side,
May thou whom truth and reason guide
All their tender hours improving,
Live like us, beloved and loving.
His wave in lucid mazes leads,
Silent, slow, serenely flowing,
Wealth on either side bestowing,
There in a safe though small retreat,
Content and Love have fixed their seat--
Love, that counts his duty pleasure;
Content, that knows and hugs his treasure.
From art, from jealousy secure,
As faith unblamed, as friendship pure,
Vain opinion nobly scorning,
Virtue aiding, life adorning,
Fair Thames, along thy flowery side,
May thou whom truth and reason guide
All their tender hours improving,
Live like us, beloved and loving.
DAVID MALLET, "Where Thames Along the Daisied Meads"
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Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew
(Twenty bridges or twenty-two)
Wanted to know what the River knew,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told ...
(Twenty bridges or twenty-two)
Wanted to know what the River knew,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told ...
RUDYARD KIPLING, "The River's Tale", Writings in Prose and Verse
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Along the shore of silver-streaming Thames,
Whose rushy bank the which his river hems.
Whose rushy bank the which his river hems.
EDMUND SPENSER, "Prothalamion", Hymns, Visions, Elegiac poems
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For centuries London's residents have sailed on the River Thames' waters, docked and traded on its shores and built their homes not far from the waters that connect the English capital with the country's pastoral countryside. But Thames locals have, on occasion, also been known to use the river as a veritable dumping ground for just about anything that needs disposing. It's for that reason the Thames has been dubbed the city's "longest archaeological site," and earned a reputation as a hot spot for amateur and professional archaeologists alike to find everything from weapons to jewelry to art to ... well, you can just imagine.
ALANNA MARTINEZ, "London's River Thames Has Been a Hot Spot for Lost Art for Centuries", The Observer, June 1, 2017
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I think the Thames River is a really misunderstood river. Going through Chatham, and even London, it gets the reputation of being an inner-city river with not too much going on in regards to wildlife and even nature.
TREVOR THOMPSON, "River canoe to spotlight natural gem in Chatham-Kent", Chatham Daily News, July 13, 2015
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It's also interesting to think about what modern London has in common with its earliest settlers. The Thames River is one example, although the relationship Victorian Londoners shared with the city's heritage landmark was a lot different to say the least. As we continue to debate what our future relationship with the Thames will be like, photographs of a major 1883 flood remind us why it was necessary to tame the river in the first place.
CHRIS MONTANINI, "London's history in pictures", The Londoner, November 16, 2016
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London waxed and waned and waxed, fed always by the silvery lifeline of the Thames.
DAVID PIPER, The Companion Guide to London
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No turbots dignify my boards;
But gudgeons, flounders--what my Thames affords.
But gudgeons, flounders--what my Thames affords.
ALEXANDER POPE, "The Second Satire of the Second Book of Horace"
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Thames, matron Thames,
That ebbest back
From the sea;
Oh! in thee
There are emblems
Of life's track:
We, too, would, like thee, regain,
If we might, our greener hours;
We, too, mourn our vanished flowers,
But in vain.
That ebbest back
From the sea;
Oh! in thee
There are emblems
Of life's track:
We, too, would, like thee, regain,
If we might, our greener hours;
We, too, mourn our vanished flowers,
But in vain.
ALEXANDER HUME BUTLER, "Thames", Poems written in Barracks
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The Thames is no ordinary waterway, it is the golden thread of our nation's history.
WINSTON CHURCHILL, attributed, "Walking the Thames: from its source in the Cotswolds to the coast", The Times, June 3, 2017
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There is no river in the world to be compared for majesty and the witchery of association, to the Thames; it impresses even the unreading and unimaginative watcher with a solemnity which he cannot account for, as it rolls under his feet and swirls past the buttresses of its many bridges; he may think, as he experiences the unusual effect, that it is the multiplicity of buildings which line its banks, or the crowd of sea-craft which floats upon its surface, or its own extensive spread. In reality he feels, although he cannot explain it, the countless memories which hang for ever like a spiritual fog over its rushing current.
HUME NISBET, "The Phantom Model", Gaslit Nightmares
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We could be on the Thames once a week cleaning it up. I've been motivated by the fact I live in London and the Thames River is the defining feature of this town. I don't think a lot of people realize we have, right downtown in the heart of the city, anglers fishing for one of the 90 different breeds of fish that live in the river. It's a pretty important and sensitive environmental ecosystem.
TOM CULL, "Thames River clean up efforts growing", The Londoner, April 4, 2014
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What better place than this then could we find
By this sweet stream that knows not of the sea,
This little stream whose hamlets scarce have names,
This far-off lonely mother of the Thames.
By this sweet stream that knows not of the sea,
This little stream whose hamlets scarce have names,
This far-off lonely mother of the Thames.
WILLIAM MORRIS, "The Months: June"
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But her own king she likens to his Thames;
Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,
Swift without violence, without terror great.
Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,
Swift without violence, without terror great.
MATTHEW PRIOR, "Carmen Seculare"
Claude Monet
If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim
Thatcher
― Charles Chaplin, My Autobiography
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