And beauty, making beautiful old rhyme.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnet cvi.

He knew

Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.

John Milton (1608-1674): Lycidas. Line 10.

You think they are crusaders sent

From some infernal clime,

To pluck the eyes of sentiment

And dock the tail of Rhyme,

To crack the voice of Melody

And break the legs of Time.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): The Music-Grinders.

Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time,

So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry;

Blot out the epic's stately rhyme,

But spare his "Highland Mary!"

John G Whittier (1807-892): Lines on Burns.

But touch me, and no minister so sore;

Whoe'er offends at some unlucky time

Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme,

Sacred to ridicule his whole life long,

And the sad burden of some merry song.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Satires, Epistles, and Odes of Horace. Satire i. Book ii. Line 76.

Prologues like compliments are loss of time;

'T is penning bows and making legs in rhyme.

David Garrick (1716-1779): Prologue to Crisp's Tragedy of Virginia.

I was promised on a time

To have reason for my rhyme;

From that time unto this season,

I received nor rhyme nor reason.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Lines on his Promised Pension.

Neither rhyme nor reason.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act iii. Sc. 2.

For what is worth in anything

But so much money as 't will bring?

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part ii. Canto i. Line 465.

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnet lv.

I was promised on a time

To have reason for my rhyme;

From that time unto this season,

I received nor rhyme nor reason.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Lines on his Promised Pension.

Still may syllabes jar with time,

Still may reason war with rhyme,

Resting never!

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Underwoods. Fit of Rhyme against Rhyme.

For rhyme the rudder is of verses,

With which, like ships, they steer their courses.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part i. Canto i. Line 463.

Some have been beaten till they know

What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow;

Some kick'd until they can feel whether

A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part ii. Canto i. Line 221.

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 16.