I have seen

A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract

Of inland ground, applying to his ear

The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell,

To which, in silence hushed, his very soul

Listened intensely; and his countenance soon

Brightened with joy, for from within were heard

Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed

Mysterious union with his native sea.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Excursion. Book iv.

So dear to heav'n is saintly chastity,

That when a soul is found sincerely so,

A thousand liveried angels lackey her,

Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,

And in clear dream and solemn vision

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,

Till oft converse with heav'nly habitants

Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 453.

Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,

And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,

Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,

Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon

Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,

And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two

And sleeps again.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act i. Sc. 4.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Venus and Adonis. Line 145.

Here the heart

May give a useful lesson to the head,

And Learning wiser grow without his books.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 85.

Ne'er

Was flattery lost on poet's ear;

A simple race! they waste their toil

For the vain tribute of a smile.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto iv. Stanza 35.

Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,

Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;

For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 3.

I was all ear,

And took in strains that might create a soul

Under the ribs of death.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 560.

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Venus and Adonis. Line 145.

Went in at the tone eare and out at the tother.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

The stars of midnight shall be dear

To her; and she shall lean her ear

In many a secret place

Where rivulets dance their wayward round,

And beauty born of murmuring sound

Shall pass into her face.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Three years she grew in Sun and Shower.

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

That strain again! it had a dying fall:

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Twelfth Night. Act i. Sc. 1.

One eare it heard, at the other out it went.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Troilus and Creseide. Book iv. Line 435.

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue

Of him that makes it.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Love's Labour's Lost. Act v. Sc. 2.

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act i. Sc. 5.

Where more is meant than meets the ear.

John Milton (1608-1674): Il Penseroso. Line 120.

Was never eie did see that face,

Was never eare did heare that tong,

Was never minde did minde his grace,

That ever thought the travell long;

But eies and eares and ev'ry thought

Were with his sweete perfections caught.

Mathew Roydon (Circa 1586): An Elegie; or Friend's Passion for his Astrophill.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on,—

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.

John Keats (1795-1821): Ode on a Grecian Urn.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Can storied urn, or animated bust,

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?

Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust,

Or flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of death?

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 11.

Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 800.

Calm on the listening ear of night

Come Heaven's melodious strains,

Where wild Judea stretches far

Her silver-mantled plains.

Edmund H Sears (1810-1876): Christmas Song.

There is some soul of goodness in things evil,

Would men observingly distil it out.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry V. Act iv. Sc. 1.

But sorrow return'd with the dawning of morn,

And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): The Soldier's Dream.

He went away with a flea in's ear.

John Fletcher (1576-1625): Love's Cure. Act iii. Sc. 3.

And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd,

That palter with us in a double sense:

That keep the word of promise to our ear

And break it to our hope.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act v. Sc. 8.

The wrong sow by th' eare.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. ix.

O, now, for ever

Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!

Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars

That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!

Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,

The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,

The royal banner, and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!

And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats

The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,

Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act iii. Sc. 3.