Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade!

Ah, fields beloved in vain!

Where once my careless childhood stray'd,

A stranger yet to pain!

I feel the gales that from ye blow

A momentary bliss bestow.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 2.

'T is the eye of childhood

That fears a painted devil.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act ii. Sc. 2.

'T is the eye of childhood

That fears a painted devil.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act ii. Sc. 2.

I remember, I remember

How my childhood fleeted by,—

The mirth of its December

And the warmth of its July.

W M Praed (1802-1839): I remember, I remember.

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears,—

Toil without recompense, tears all in vain!

Take them, and give me my childhood again!

Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832-1911): Rock me to sleep.

I have had playmates, I have had companions,

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days.

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834): Old Familiar Faces.

How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,

When fond recollection presents them to view.

Samuel Woodworth (1785-1842): The Old Oaken Bucket.

The childhood shows the man,

As morning shows the day.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Regained. Book iv. Line 220.

There was a place in childhood that I remember well,

And there a voice of sweetest tone bright fairy tales did tell.

Samuel Lover (1797-1868): My Mother dear.

Standing with reluctant feet

Where the brook and river meet,

Womanhood and childhood fleet!

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): Maidenhood.