Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close;

And let us all to meditation.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 3.

We will draw the curtain and show you the picture.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Twelfth Night. Act i. Sc. 5.

Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,

So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,

Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,

And would have told him half his Troy was burnt.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 1.

Religion blushing, veils her sacred fires,

And unawares Morality expires.

Nor public flame nor private dares to shine;

Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!

Lo! thy dread empire Chaos is restor'd,

Light dies before thy uncreating word;

Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall,

And universal darkness buries all.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Dunciad. Book iv. Line 649.

Heaven's ebon vault

Studded with stars unutterably bright,

Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls,

Seems like a canopy which love has spread

To curtain her sleeping world.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): Queen Mab. iv.

Whilst twilight's curtain spreading far,

Was pinned with a single star.

Mcdonald Clarke (1798-1842): Death in Disguise. Line 227. (Boston edition, 1833.)