"Unclose" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... rounded pebbles, shaped, smoothed, and polished by long attrition against each other. These thoughts remain very much the same from day to day, from week to week; and as we grow older, from month to month, and from year to year. The tides of wakening consciousness roll in upon them daily as we unclose our eyelids, and keep up the gentle movement and murmur of ordinary mental respiration until we close them again in slumber. When we think we are thinking, we are for the most part only listening to sound of attrition between these inert elements of intelligence. They shift their places a little, ...
— Over the Teacups • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... beliefs had the girl been accustomed to in companionship with her ne'er-do-well father? Whatever her experiences, her atmosphere was one of strength and innocence. As this thought came to him with conviction, an involuntary desire to look at the subject of it caused his eyes suddenly to unclose. ...
— The Opened Shutters • Clara Louise Burnham
... gentlemen," with a smirk. "Well, then, Mephistopheles went on with his serenade"—Mme. Giry, burst into song again—"'Saint, unclose thy portals holy and accord the bliss, to a mortal bending lowly, of a pardon-kiss.' And then M. Maniera again hears the voice in his right ear, saying, this time, 'Ha, ha! Julie wouldn't mind according a kiss to ...
— The Phantom of the Opera • Gaston Leroux
... (scoop out) 252; tunnel; transpierce[obs3], transfix; enfilade, impale, spike, spear, gore, spit, stab, pink, puncture, lance, stick, prick, riddle, punch; stave in. cut a passage through; make way for, make room for. uncover, unclose, unrip[obs3]; lay open, cut open, rip open, throw open, pop open, blow open, pry open, tear open, pull open. Adj. open; perforated &c. v.; perforate; wide open, ajar, unclosed, unstopped; oscitant[obs3], gaping, yawning; patent. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... vermilion-tinted fingers toyed With the long tresses of the evening star. I've dreamed of dreams more beautiful than all— Dreams that were music, perfume, vision, bliss,— Blent and sublimed, till I have stood inwrapped In the thick essence of an atmosphere That made me tremble to unclose my eyes Lest I should look on God. And I have dreamed Of sinless men and maids, mated in heaven, Ere yet their souls had sought for beauteous forms To give them human sense and residence, Moving through all this realm of choice delights For ever and for aye; with hands and hearts ...
— Bitter-Sweet • J. G. Holland
... one with three, beds. We were very reluctant to accept these; and, after all, how could seven persons, a lady and six gentlemen, be thus accommodated? Mr. M—— and I determined to lay siege to the closed hotel and try if we could not find an "open sesame" to unclose its portals. ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September, 1878 • Various
... never look at Blithedale more. Had it been evening, I would have stolen softly to some lighted window of the old farmhouse, and peeped darkling in, to see all their well-known faces round the supper-board. Then, were there a vacant seat, I might noiselessly unclose the door, glide in, and take my place among them, without a word. My entrance might be so quiet, my aspect so familiar, that they would forget how long I had been away, and suffer me to melt into the scene, as a wreath of vapor melts into ...
— The Blithedale Romance • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... shore, and at nightfall the wrecking-party, hungry, weary, and out of humor, retired to their cabins. About an hour after midnight heavy rain fell; the wind shifted, and blew inshore. With the first appearance of dawn, Abigail's cottage door was seen slowly to unclose, and she herself to emerge from it, and stealthily creep down to the shore. Once there, a steep sea-wall—thrown up to protect the adjoining lowlands from inundation—screened her from observation. She was absent ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various
... the chatter of the starling Athwart the lawn! Lean your head close and closer. O my darling!— It is the dawn. Dawn in the dusk of her dream, Dream in the hush of her bosom, unclose! Bathed in the eye-bright beam, Blush to her cheek, be a blossom, ...
— The Vigil of Venus and Other Poems by "Q" • Q
... spoke: the rolling waves unclose; Then down the steep she plunged from whence she rose, And left him sorrowing on the lonely coast, In wild resentment ...
— The Iliad of Homer • Homer
... tall white lily that was placed in a vase on a little table beside the bed. To the well-maided Althea the disorder was appalling, yet it expressed, too, something of charm. The invalid lay plunged in her pillows, her dark hair tossed above her head, and, as Althea approached, she did not unclose her eyes. ...
— Franklin Kane • Anne Douglas Sedgwick
... side my harp and shell, And the shield, my fathers in battle bore; Ye halls, where Oisin and Daoul {72} dwell, Unclose—for at eve I ...
— Targum • George Borrow
... her pale cheeks unnoticed as she spoke. It was only natural to Angela that her first words should be words of consolation to another, not of sorrow for her own great loss. But Mrs. Luttrell did not unclose ...
— Under False Pretences - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... crosses everywhere, so that many years after, when some Frenchmen were visiting the place, they found these evidences of his labours. After two months of fatigue, Father d'Olbeau was compelled to return to Quebec, as he was suffering from sore eyes, and was unable to unclose his eyelids for several weeks. The two fathers arrived at Quebec on July 11th, 1616, and Father Jamet was pleased to learn the result of the missions of his confreres. The three missionaries had carefully studied the country during the past year, and gained a fair knowledge ...
— The Makers of Canada: Champlain • N. E. Dionne
... extend thy arms of love, A spirit seeketh thee above! Ye heav'nly palaces unclose, ...
— Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams - Sixth President of the Unied States • William H. Seward
... joys, that flit like birds away, When chilling autumn blows, But come again, long ere the buds of May Their rosy lips unclose! ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 - Sorrow and Consolation • Various
... it dies! The Sybil speaks, the dream is o'er, The holy harpings charm no more. In vain she checks the God's controul; His madding spirit fills her frame, And moulds the features of her soul, Breathing a prophetic flame. The cavern frowns; its hundred mouths unclose! And, In the thunder's voice, the ...
— Poems • Samuel Rogers
... eyes—small, keen, deeply set beneath heavy brows—flashed from a dull opacity to an alert animation. But in the first and last view of his face it was the mouth that marked the man; the straight, thin lips would close or unclose at their own will, not at another's—the line of the mouth, like the line of the hard, square jaw, was the physical expression of his character. He was called ugly, but it was at least the ugliness of individuality—the ...
— The Voice of the People • Ellen Glasgow
... the Ocean's orison arose, To which the birds tempered their matin lay. All flowers in field or forest which unclose ...
— Percy Bysshe Shelley • John Addington Symonds
... her task with a sad heart, but often would she unclose the door and look in upon the pale child, and show her some article of dress she had been preparing for her. She would look up with ...
— Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland • Abigail Stanley Hanna
... Madame Orley, who was feeding Chimborazo with sugar, dropped the sugar on the floor and ran too. Jerry flew for a doctor. Mignon was laid on a bed. They fanned her, rubbed her feet, put brandy into her pale lips. But it was all of no use. The little hands were cold, the blue-veined eyelids would not unclose. Madame Orley and the other women riders who were clustered beside the bed began to sob bitterly. They all loved Mignon; she was the pet and baby of the whole ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge
... Honour save, When he hath heard the common Voice, Hath granted them their own free Choice, And gave them thereupon the Key. But as he would that men might see What Good they got, as they suppose, He bade anon the Coffer unclose, - Which was filled full with Straw and Stone; Thus are they served, the Luck's ...
— Playful Poems • Henry Morley
... laid aside every mark of royalty or of distinguished station; he was clad only in the thin white linen dress of the penitent, and there, fasting, he awaited in humble patience the pleasure of the Pope. But the gates did not unclose. A second day he stood, cold, hungry and mocked by vain hopes. And yet a third day dragged on from morning till evening over the unsheltered head of the discrowned King. Every heart was moved save that of the ...
— The Naples Riviera • Herbert M. Vaughan
... moment, was granted the satisfaction of seeing Jean unclose his eyes, and as he was running to a stream that flowed near by, for water with which to bathe his friend's face, he was surprised, looking down on his right into a sheltered valley that lay between rugged slopes, to behold the same peasant ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola
... the colour gleams and glows In many a flower; her lips, those tender doors By which, in time of love, love's essence flows From him to her, are dyed in delicate Rose. Mine is the earliest Ruby light that pours Out of the East, when day's white gates unclose. ...
— India's Love Lyrics • Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (AKA Laurence Hope), et al.
... their bodies where they cling are shadowed and still, And with marvel they mark that the mud now is dark, For the unfolding flower, like a goddess in her power, Challenges the moon with a light of her own, That lovelily grows as the petals unclose, Wider, more wide with an awful inward pride Till the heart of it breaks, and stilled is their breath, For the radiance it makes is ...
— Georgian Poetry 1916-17 - Edited by Sir Edward Howard Marsh • Various
... in the goblet see The pure beverage of the bee, O'er it hangs the shield of gold; 'Tis the drink of Balder bold: Balder's head to death is given; Pain can reach the sons of Heaven! Unwilling I my lips unclose; Leave me, leave me to ...
— Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett - With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes • Samuel Johnson, Thomas Parnell, Thomas Gray, and Tobias Smollett
... not passed the guards of the palace, who have no hesitation, and know no disobedience—But no—I were then alone in the land, and without a friend or confidant.—I hear the sound of the outer gate unclose, the sense of danger certainly renders my ears more acute than usual.—It shuts again—the die is cast. He is at liberty—and Alexius Comnenus must stand or fall, according to the uncertain faith of a mercenary Varangian." ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott
... it seemed to be a dream, and she shut her eyes, almost expecting to open them on Annette's face, and the little attic at home. But then, some one else must have been the fabric of a vision! She made haste to unclose them, and her heart bounded at thinking that he was born to all this! She started with joy as his step approached, ...
— Heartsease - or Brother's Wife • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the dock unclose with a snap. We were taken out; I hardly knew how. I walked like a man in his sleep. 'Five years, Berrima Gaol! Berrima Gaol!' kept ringing ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood
... endeavour to resuscitate the poor fellow lying on the snow. Their sledge was unpacked, double blankets laid down, and the sufferer lifted upon them, friction liberally applied to the limbs, and at last they had the satisfaction of seeing him unclose his eyes, to stare blindly for a time. Then consciousness returned, there was a look of joy flashing out, and ...
— To Win or to Die - A Tale of the Klondike Gold Craze • George Manville Fenn
... by step, and he comes to her, Fearful lest she suddenly stir. Sunshine and silence, and each to each, The lute and his singing their only speech; He leans above her, her eyes unclose, The humming-bird enters another rose. The minstrel hushes his silver strings. Hark! The beating of humming-birds' wings! Down the road to Avignon, The long, long road to Avignon, Across the bridge to Avignon, One morning in ...
— A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass • Amy Lowell
... all delight, and draws the cloth, Kissing my lips, and begging me to wake. I try, but fail to raise my hand again. The trance still lasts. My eyes will not unclose; My lips refuse the ...
— Stories in Verse • Henry Abbey
... Marmion rose: And first the chapel doors unclose; Then after morning rites were done (A hasty mass from Friar John), And knight and squire had broke their fast On rich substantial repast, Lord Marmion's bugles blew to horse Then came the stirrup-cup in course: ...
— Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field • Walter Scott
... will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclose the shutters ...
— The Lock and Key Library • Julian Hawthorne, Ed.
... extremities, Walter. I have fortitude equal to most, but it must not be tried by a more than human test. Walter! one word, and then—we part forever. A dreadful fatality has deranged the language of our hearts. Dared I unclose these lips, Walter, I could tell thee things! I could——But cruel fate has alike fettered my tongue and my heart, and I must endure in silence, even though you revile ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller
... climb the footworn stair, The chapel gates unclose, Now each breathed low a fervent prayer, And fear ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley
... as I endeavoured to unclose a rapidly discolouring eye, "in fact, I begin to discredit ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, May 21, 1892 • Various
... could. He caused one of his priests to exorcise the maidens. But the demons laughed the exorciser to scorn. He who dwelt in the fair damsel, even the noble demon Beelzebub, Spirit of Pride, never deigned to unclose his teeth. ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet
... always followed: the most gracious and loving and tender light glimmered in the man's eyes for a moment; faded out the next, and in its place came that deadly look which had flamed there the first time I ever saw his lids unclose; thirdly, he ceased from speech, there and then for that day; lay silent, abstracted, and absorbed; apparently heard nothing that I said; took no notice of my good-byes, and plainly did not know, by either sight or hearing, when I left ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... falls light on all, That lady's eyes unclose; To all that is fair In earth and air, When none are awake her thoughts to share, ...
— Mark Hurdlestone - Or, The Two Brothers • Susanna Moodie
... one should stand before this statue in a scoffing mood is to me perfectly inexplicable. My own emotions were more nearly akin to absolute bodily fear. At an irreverent word, I should have expected the brow to contract into a darker frown, and the marble lips to unclose in rebuke." ...
— Italy, the Magic Land • Lilian Whiting
... Bacchis's house) Quick, quick, open up, I beseech you, unclose this door of hell! ...
— Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi • Plautus Titus Maccius
... no second invitation, but immediately flew upstairs, and opening the door softly, peeped in before she entered. She was lying with her eyes closed, but the opening of the door, quietly though it was done, caused her to unclose them again just as Minnie looked in. She looked very pale and exhausted, but brightened up wonderfully under the influence of Minnie's cheerfulness, and was altogether so much better by the time for her departure, that she felt persuaded she would be able to attend school ...
— Hollowmell - or, A Schoolgirl's Mission • E.R. Burden
... why so long in bed? "I listen to a cause," he said; "As soon as I unclose my eyes. First industry excites to rise." "Up, up," she says, "to meet the sun, Your task of yesterday's undone!" "Lie still," cries sloth, "it is not warm, An hour's more sleep can do no harm; You will have time your work to do, And leisure ...
— Aesop, in Rhyme - Old Friends in a New Dress • Marmaduke Park
... fears Their cheeks, grown holy with the lapse of years; Though with the dust some reverend locks may blend, Where life's last mile-stone marks the journey's end; On every bud the changing year recalls, The brightening glance of morning memory falls, Still following onward as the months unclose The balmy lilac or the bridal rose; And still shall follow, till they sink once more Beneath the snow-drifts of the frozen shore, As when my bark, long tossing in the gale, Furled in her port ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... garden blows with rose on rose, The sunny, shadow-dappled lawns are there; There the immortal lilies, heavenly sweet. O roses, that for us shall not unclose! O lilies, that we shall not pluck or wear! O dewy lawns untrodden ...
— Many Voices • E. Nesbit
... clocks are hushed—there's not a light In any window nigh, And not a single planet bright Looks from the clouded sky; The air is raw, the rain descends, A bitter north-wind blows; His cloak the traveller scarce defends— Will not the door unclose? ...
— Poems • (AKA Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte) Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
... to praise the poor, deaf, stirless clay when sense and spirit have fled from it forever! No fear to spoil a corpse by flattery,—the heavily sealed-up eyes can never more unclose to lighten with glad hope or fond ambition; the quiet heart cannot leap with gratitude or joy at that "word spoken in due season" which aids its noblest aspirations to become realized! The DEAD poet?—Press the cold clods of earth over him, and then rant above his grave,—tell him how great ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli
... been across the seas to the far-away new world, had made part of a famous expedition, and was now a cripple at the gate of the mediaeval city where he had played as a child. All this struck me as a great deal of history for so modest a figure—a poor little figure that could only just unclose its palm ...
— A Little Tour in France • Henry James
... not unclose his lips, Monk did not turn his eyes; Monk stroked his mustache with a thoughtful air, which announced that matters were ...
— Ten Years Later - Chapters 1-104 • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... I was lying in one of the shallow runlets that come into Lake George, and the pebbles were an uneasy bed, chilling my shoulders. I was too stiff to move, or even turn my head to lift out of water the ear on which it rested. But I could unclose my eyelids, and this is what I saw:—a man naked to his waist, half reclining against a leaning slab of marble, down which a layer of water constantly moved. His legs were clothed, and his other garments lay across them. His face had sagged ...
— Lazarre • Mary Hartwell Catherwood
... bud, all covered with dew, Answer my question and answer it true; What were you made for, and why do you stay Clinging so close to the twig all the day? "Hid in my green sheath, some day to unclose, Nestles the warm, ...
— Twilight Stories • Various
... then why burns man's restless mind Truth's hidden portals to unclose? Knows he already what he seeks? Why toil to seek it, if he knows? Yet, haply if he knoweth not, Why blindly ...
— The Consolation of Philosophy • Boethius
... wax, and of Lapland sisame. Its wick must be twisted of hair of the dead, By the crow and her brood on the wild waste shed. Wherever that terrible light shall burn Vainly the sleeper may toss and turn; His leaden lids shall he ne'er unclose So long as that magical taper glows. Life and treasures shall he command Who knoweth the charm of the Glorious Hand! But of black cat's gall let him aye have care, And of ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth
... above And rested on an earthly tie to mark approval given, A mother's love, assuredly, is sanctioned thus by Heaven. But soon the ruthless spoiler comes, and all its trust is vain: The eye that beamed so kindly once, will ne'er unclose again; The voice of love that still could soothe when all its hopes were o'er, Alas! those sweetly sacred tones are hushed forever-more; The smile that lingered round its path when other lights had fled, Oh! can it be that blessed smile is buried with the dead? Then ...
— Heart Utterances at Various Periods of a Chequered Life. • Eliza Paul Kirkbride Gurney
... Rhenanus owes, That for my Britain shall my toil unclose; His volumes mark their customs, names, and climes, And brighten, with a summer's light, old times. I also, touch'd by the same love, will write, To ornament my country's splendid light, Which shall, inscribed on snowy tablets, be Full many a ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli
... And woodbine, Lily, violet, and rose Plentiful in April fair, To the air, Their pretty petals to unclose. ...
— Grass of Parnassus • Andrew Lang
... makes him unclose his clenched fist, in which there appears to be one or two cloves, and then says: "I am shocked to hear this, Mr. PENDRAGON. As you have no political influence, and have never shot a Tribune man, neither ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870 • Various
... quiver of her blue-veined lids, and heard the shuddering sigh that assured him consciousness was returning. Softly stroking her hand, he saw the eyes at last unclose. ...
— Infelice • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson
... accept: fingers close on upturned palm as if receiving something; (b) to reject: fingers unclose from down-turned palm as if ...
— The Art of Stage Dancing - The Story of a Beautiful and Profitable Profession • Ned Wayburn
... night of horrors unless I returned to my fire. The scramble up the side of the rocky canyon in many places nearly perpendicular, was the hardest work of my journey. Often while clinging to the jutting rocks with hands and feet, to reach a shelving projection, my grasp would unclose and I would slide many feet down the sharp declivity. It was night when, sore from the bruises I had received, I reached my fire; the storm, still raging, had nearly extinguished it. I found a few embers in the ashes, and with much difficulty kindled a flame. Here on this bleak mountain ...
— Thirty-Seven Days of Peril - from Scribner's Monthly Vol III Nov. 1871 • Truman Everts
... hath no temple, she alone, Nor image where a man may kneel; No blood upon her altar-stone Crying shall make her hear nor feel. I know thy greatness; come not great Beyond my dreams, O Power of Fate! Aye, Zeus himself shall not unclose His purpose save by thy decerning. The chain of iron, the Scythian sword, It yields and shivers at thy word; Thy heart is as the rock, and knows ...
— Alcestis • Euripides
... had not failed me, I might have quoted that line often and appropriately enough. But every agent in the "robbery"—from the vainglorious Virginian, my chief captor, down to the smooth Secretary, whose velvet gripe was so loth to unclose—seemed provokingly bent on exaggerating the importance of their prize. Perhaps the very interest felt in my release, and the exertions unsparingly used—especially in Baltimore—to secure it, strengthened ...
— Border and Bastille • George A. Lawrence
... the ground. The companions of Burley hastened to his assistance, but were repelled by the dragoons, and the battle became again general. But nothing could withdraw the attention of the combatants from each other, or induce them to unclose the deadly clasp in which they rolled together on the ground, tearing, struggling, and foaming, with the ...
— Old Mortality, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott
... long-skirted coat, and taller than he really is, made us bring our cream and wild strawberries out of doors, ranging ourselves according to his judgment (for a hasty sketch in that big pocket-book he carries) on the soft slope of one of those fresh spaces in the wood, where the trees unclose a little, while Jean-Baptiste and my youngest sister danced a minuet on the grass, to the notes of some strolling lutanist who had found us out. He is visibly cheerful at the thought of his return to Paris, ...
— Imaginary Portraits • Walter Horatio Pater
... from the bowl at his side and began to unclose its petals. "Why did he say that?" he asked, suddenly raising his eyes from the ...
— A Woman's Will • Anne Warner
... Buschopys partyn in the place, and eche of hem here leve be contenawns resortyng eche man to his place with here meny to take Cryst; and than xal the place that Cryst is in sodeynly unclose round abowt, shewynge Cryst syttyng at the table, and hise dyscypulis eche in ere degre. ...
— The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell
... and on my princely word The burden of thy wish and hope repose, That when this chosen temple of the Lord, Her holy doors shall to his saints unclose In rest and peace; then this victorious sword Shall execute due vengeance on thy foes; But if for pity of a worldly dame I left this work, such pity were ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso
... was endeavoring to unclose the teeth of the gypsy in order to introduce a few drops of warm, sweetened wine through her pallid lips. Then he rubbed the feet of the unfortunate ...
— Which? - or, Between Two Women • Ernest Daudet
... that thei mote it have. The king, which wolde his honour save, 2370 Whan he hath herd the commun vois, Hath granted hem here oghne chois And tok hem therupon the keie. Bot for he wolde it were seie What good thei have, as thei suppose, He bad anon the cofre unclose, Which was fulfild with straw and stones: Thus be thei served al at ones. This king thanne in the same stede Anon that other cofre undede, 2380 Where as thei sihen gret richesse, Wel more than thei couthen gesse. "Lo," seith the king, "nou mai ye se That ther ...
— Confessio Amantis - Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, 1330-1408 A.D. • John Gower
... bridal blush of rose, And sweetest breath of woodland balm, And one whose matron lips unclose In smiles of ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier
... tightly locked teeth; but by degrees she succeeded, and, only half-conscious still, he drank it faster; the heat and the strength reviving him as its stimulant warmed his veins. His eyes did not unclose, but he stirred, moved his limbs, and, with some muttered words she could not hear, drew a ...
— Under Two Flags • Ouida [Louise de la Ramee]
... of amethyst and rose, Close wrapped in fragrant golden curtains laid, Where silver lattices to morn unclose, The fairy lover ...
— The Power of Womanhood, or Mothers and Sons - A Book For Parents, And Those In Loco Parentis • Ellice Hopkins
... thy little drunken eyes unclose, And now thou feelest for thy little nose, And, finding it, thou rubbest thy two hands Much as to say, "I'm glad I'm here again." And well mayest thou rejoice—'tis very plain, That near wert thou to Death's ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... hope," they said; and before the day had closed the little dimpled hands were folded over his marble breast, the long dark lashes peacefully swept the violet eyes that would never again unclose; and the tiny restless feet were still—oh, God, how still!—while, on the baby-brows that would never know the weight of the crown he was born to bear, the smile of a cherub crowned him with the promise of ...
— The Royal Pawn of Venice - A Romance of Cyprus • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull
... was ivy-clad; And round a dreary forest rose; The midnight bell was tolling sad, 'Twas tolling for a soul's repose. The lady heard the gates unclose, And from ...
— Apparitions; or, The Mystery of Ghosts, Hobgoblins, and Haunted Houses Developed • Joseph Taylor
... awoke Within my soul. I felt my heart expand With that sweet fullness born of love. I turned To hide the blushes on my cheek that burned, And leaning over Helen, breathed her name. She lay so motionless I thought she slept: But, as I spoke, I saw her eyes unclose, And o'er her face a sudden glory swept, And a slight tremor thrilled all through her frame. "Sweet friend," I said, "your face is full of light: What were the dreams that made your eyes ...
— Maurine and Other Poems • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... a deep, quivering breath. Home seemed so far, and the old slave would never live to see it. I felt as though this steel-cold North held me, too, like a trap—never to unclose. ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers
... the clock? But let not the hour be too early, for tired people are heavy sleepers; yet not too late either, lest the heat of the sun may have become too suggestive of the approaching noon-tide; late enough for weary eyelids to unclose willingly, early enough for the fresh dewy odor still to cling to ...
— Etiquette • Agnes H. Morton
... when Jackson roused himself and forced his weary eyes to unclose. "As dangerous as to go to sleep when freezing," he muttered. He rose, stepped to the closet ...
— Elsie's Womanhood • Martha Finley
... the whole host pours in, not o'er the walls Alone, but through the gates, which soon unclose, Batter'd or burnt; and in wide ruin falls Each strong defence that might their march oppose. Rages the sword; and Death, the slaught'rer, goes 'Twixt Wo and Horror with gigantic tread, From street to street; the ...
— The Book of the Epic • Helene A. Guerber
... canst not hinder me. Death is my portion! Grudge me not the quiet and easy death which thou hadst prepared for thyself. Give me thine hand!—At the moment when I unclose that dismal portal through which there is no return, I may tell thee, with this pressure of the hand, how sincerely I have loved, how deeply I have pitied thee. My brother died young; I chose thee to fill his place; thy heart rebelled, thou didst ...
— Egmont - A Tragedy In Five Acts • Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
... thy conscience, when our arms are used for our own destruction; for thou wilt see that the sufferings due to parricides are fully deserved by thee. And though ambition should blind thine eyes, the whole world, witness to thine iniquity, will compel thee to open them; God himself will unclose them, if perjuries, if violated faith, if treacheries displease him, and if, as ever, he is still the enemy of the wicked. Do not, therefore, promise thyself any certainty of victory; for the just wrath ...
— History Of Florence And Of The Affairs Of Italy - From The Earliest Times To The Death Of Lorenzo The Magnificent • Niccolo Machiavelli
... such as these, I was fetched earthward by the clicking of a lock, and, turning, saw the door beneath her balcony unclose and afford egress to a slender and hooded figure. My amazement was considerable ...
— Gallantry - Dizain des Fetes Galantes • James Branch Cabell
... No matter: it shall not be said that the Roman Tribune bought with so many lives his own safety: nor shall it be written upon my grave-stone, 'Here lies the coward, who did not dare forgive.' What, ho! there, officers, unclose the doors! My masters, let us acquaint the prisoners with ...
— Rienzi • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... bulbs, which, though only a secondary consideration, are not by any means worthless. For the benefit of both seed and bulbs, the matter of cutting off the buds that are not wanted should be attended to promptly as soon as the first flowers unclose. ...
— The Gladiolus - A Practical Treatise on the Culture of the Gladiolus (2nd Edition) • Matthew Crawford
... of the rose They decline, the rose abuse, Who, when roses red unclose, Seek not their own sweets to use; 'Tis with largess, liberal dues, That the ...
— Wine, Women, and Song - Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse • Various
... bleeding wounds become healed. Certain meetings, certain things half perceived, or surmised, certain secret sorrows, certain tricks of fate which awake in us a whole world of painful thoughts, which suddenly unclose to us the mysterious door of moral suffering, complicated, incurable; all the deeper because they appear benign, all the more bitter because they are intangible, all the more tenacious because they appear almost factitious, leave in our souls ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant
... recesses, deep, A fount of tender feeling lies; Whose crystal waters, while they sleep, Reflect the light of starry skies. Thy voice might prophet-like unclose Its bonds, and bid those waters start, But why disturb their sweet repose? Spare, ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 3 September 1848 • Various
... the way, Sun on the sea, Sun on your minds, Help from the winds; May the packed floes Part and unclose Where the ship goes. Forward her progress be, E'en though the silent sea, Then After her ...
— Farthest North - Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 • Fridtjof Nansen
... a hoarse cry, and attempted to speak, but the words rattled in his throat. He then staggered forward, and, to Leonard's inexpressible horror, thrust his arms through the bars of the cage, which were literally red-hot. Seeing he had something in one hand, though he could not unclose his fingers, Leonard took it from him, and the wretched man fell backwards. At this moment a loud crack was heard in the wall behind. Several ponderous stones dropped from their places, admitting a volume of flame ...
— Old Saint Paul's - A Tale of the Plague and the Fire • William Harrison Ainsworth
... Constreynde me with so gredy desire, That in myn herte I feele yet the fire, That made me to ryse er yt wer day, And this was now the firste morwe of May, With dredful hert, and glad devocioun For to ben at the resurreccion Of this flour, whan that yt shulde unclose Agayne the sonne, that roos as rede as rose ... And doune on knes anoon ryght I me sette, And as I koude, this fresshe flour I grette, Knelying alwey, til it unclosed was, Upon the smale, ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. • William Wordsworth
... upon the tiles. He had fainted. She lifted him as if he had been a feather, carried him back to his room, laid him in bed, burned feathers under his nose, bathed his temples with eau-de-cologne, and at last brought him to consciousness. When she saw his eyes unclose and life return, she stood ...
— Cousin Pons • Honore de Balzac
... lay back there with closed eyes, it seemed impossible that he could have slept and dreamed all this, but it was plain enough now. He had but to unclose his eyes and see the Malays in the outer room, and listen to the twittering of the small birds, the screams of the parrots, and the cry uttered from time to time ...
— Middy and Ensign • G. Manville Fenn
... half an hour longer they talked, and he told them as much as he knew of what already had been destroyed, and what the final reckoning would unclose. He spoke as cheerfully as he could, but Helen, watching him closely, saw that back of this there ...
— White Ashes • Sidney R. Kennedy and Alden C. Noble
... lie thus, weak as I am, but pillowed and warmed by the searching genial rays, seems such comfort, when I think of the bed I once had on the rack! This little slumber from which I wake revives me. I feared not to find you, and did not unclose my eyes at once. It was good in you to come, Anselmo; it must have been at risk ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, Issue 67, May, 1863 • Various
... saw her eyes unclose. She looked at him as she had never looked before—with a sad and spiritual simplicity as though she had waked in a world where all may tell the truth, and there are no veils ...
— Helbeck of Bannisdale, Vol. II • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... great white Rose Half unclose; Dante saw the golden bees Gathering from its heart of gold Sweets untold, Love's ...
— Collected Poems - Volume One (of 2) • Alfred Noyes
... man, he now knew what the right "word" was, life lay open before him, and the paradise of Art was about to unclose its gates. ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... the cupboard. It looked so ordinary, with its rows of shelves, that no one would have dreamt it concealed a secret exit. By a clever arrangement the lantern evidently worked a spring, and when pulled down caused the door to unclose automatically. Somebody in days gone by had no doubt constructed it thus to form a refuge in time of danger. The girls were in raptures ...
— The Manor House School • Angela Brazil
... begins to west,* *decline westward To see this flow'r, how it will go to rest, For fear of night, so hateth she darkness! Her cheer* is plainly spread in the brightness *countenance Of the sunne, for there it will unclose. Alas! that I had English, rhyme or prose, Sufficient this flow'r to praise aright! But help me, ye that have *cunning or might;* *skill or power* Ye lovers, that can make of sentiment, In this case ought ye to be diligent To further me somewhat in my labour, Whether ye ...
— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer
... lips closed, tympans and temples unstruck, Until that comes which has the quality to strike and to unclose, Until that comes which has the quality to bring forth what lies slumbering forever ready ...
— Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman
... guided the fat horses into the byroad with the manner of a navigating officer on the bridge of a liner. Not even after they were straightened out, and dropped their quickened gait to the usual comfortable trot, did she unclose her lips or take her gray eyes ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various
... the head of Medusa with the snaky locks. The right arm was extended as if pointing onward. The face of this wonderful statue, though not angry or forbidding, was so grave and majestic that perhaps you might call it severe; and as for the mouth, it seemed just ready to unclose its lips and utter words of the ...
— Famous Tales of Fact and Fancy - Myths and Legends of the Nations of the World Retold for Boys and Girls • Various
... that the bright star of RENOWN sets not with fortune. The die is cast! should I resign a crown, Honor and Fame, you are my choice!" He placed his hand upon the casket that he had chosen, but the sultan commanded him not to unclose it, while he motioned to Labakan to advance, in like manner, before his table. He did so, and at the same time grasped his box. The sultan, however, had a chalice brought in, with water from Zemzem, the holy fountain of Mecca, washed his hands for supplication, ...
— The Oriental Story Book - A Collection of Tales • Wilhelm Hauff
... was in regulating laws, So as by law he could defend the cause Of poor distressed plaintiff, when he brought His case before him and for help besought. Above all other men he loved those Who gospel truths most faithfully unclose, Who were with grace and learning ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams
... pain and suffering are plainly circled; and lastly, a young lady nestling back in a low basket-chair and keeping tender watch over the slight figure stretched so motionless before her. Suddenly the heavy lids unclose, and a pair of tired eyes are raised, with a sad, pathetic ...
— Aunt Judith - The Story of a Loving Life • Grace Beaumont
... hand unbars the grating doors, with his own lips calls battles forth; then all the rest follow on, and the brazen trumpets blare harsh with consenting breath. With this use then likewise they bade Latinus proclaim war on the Aeneadae, and unclose the baleful gates. He withheld his hand, and shrank away averse from the abhorred service, and hid himself blindly in the dark. Then the Saturnian queen of heaven glided from the sky, with her own hand thrust open the lingering gates, and swung sharply back on their ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil • Virgil
... answer: she was standing looking into the fire, and her lips were set firmly as though nothing would make her unclose them. ...
— Uncle Max • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... soft cheek as he turned away and stepped forth upon the piazza. The full moon was just rising in the east; the river rippled sweetly in the distance, and the whippoorwills piped their sharp, shrill notes on the hushed evening air. Suddenly he heard the garden-gate unclose, and, turning, beheld Mrs. Edson and her husband approaching. Descending the marble steps, he met them in the avenue, and, after a cordial interchange of salutations, ushered them into the gas-lighted drawing-room, where Edith, in a gossamer-like ...
— Eventide - A Series of Tales and Poems • Effie Afton
... of your sex, a running tongue. Francesca, 'tis too late to beat retreat: Old Malatesta has me—you, too, child— Safe in his clutch. If you are not content, I must unclose Ravenna, and allow His son to take you. Poh, poh! have a soul Equal with your estate. A prince's child Cannot choose husbands. Her desires must aim, Not at herself, but at the public good. Both as your ...
— Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini • George Henry Boker
... which was fortunately near. Thence a narrow passage led into the hall: in crossing it, I perceived my sandal was loose; I stopped to tie it, kneeling down for that purpose on the mat at the foot of the staircase. I heard the dining-room door unclose; a gentleman came out; rising hastily, I stood face to face with him: ...
— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte
... to watch unclose The nestling glories of a rose, Depth on rich depth, soft fold on fold; Though fairer he it, to behold Stately and sceptral lilies break To beauty, and to sweetness wake: Yet fairer still, to see and sing, One fair thing is, one matchless thing: Youth, in its ...
— The Education of Catholic Girls • Janet Erskine Stuart
... departed, A smile from its tomb has darted. And the rose, which yet lives in blushes and bloom, Breathes o'er me perfume. Yes, from its concealment, the unborn rose Before me seems to unclose." ...
— Queen Berngerd, The Bard and the Dreams - and other ballads • Thomas J. Wise
... and he who had longed for the opening of those eyes, as of the gates of heaven, that she might love him, stricken now with fear lest she should love him, fled from her, before the eyelids that hid such strife and such victory from the unconscious maiden had time to unclose. But it was agony—quietly to pack up his bundle of linen in the room below, when he knew she was lying awake above, with her dear, pale face, and living eyes! What remained of his money, except a few shillings, he put up in a scrap of paper, and went out with ...
— The Portent & Other Stories • George MacDonald
... days under the earth, sitting in the treasure in the dark; so, when the light of day smote on his face and the rays of the sun, he might not unclose his eyes, but took to opening them little by little and shutting them again till they became stronger and grew used to the light and were cleared of the darkness. Then, [269] seeing himself upon the surface of the earth, he rejoiced exceedingly, but marvelled to find himself overagainst the ...
— Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp • John Payne
... your trusty servant here, who says He saw his master, from without, unclose The shutters of his laboratory while The sun was yet unrisen. It is well; This turning to the past pursuits of youth Argues how much the aspect of to-day Hath driven the ancient darkness from his brain. And now, my dear Rosalia, let thy face And thoughts and speech be ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various
... the swart turf their ray-encircled gold, With Sol's expanding beam the flowers unclose, And rising ...
— The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought • Alexander F. Chamberlain
... assistance from her casement, and was advancing to it, when, whether the terror of her mind gave her ideal sounds, or that real ones did come, she thought footsteps were ascending the private stair-case; and, expecting to see its door unclose, she forgot all other cause of alarm, and retreated towards the corridor. Here she endeavoured to make her escape, but, on opening the door, was very near falling over a person, who lay on the floor without. ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe
... white of the eye will appear red, or what is usually called blood-shot; this, if not speedily attended to, will cause blindness; I have had several children that have been blind with it for several days. In the morning, the patients are not able to unclose their eyes for some time after they are awake. As soon as I observe these appearances, I immediately send the child home; for I have ascertained, beyond a doubt, that the disease is contagious, and if a child be suffered to remain with it in ...
— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin
... would see Jesus—yet the spirit lingers Round the dear object it has loved so long, And earth from earth will scarce unclose its fingers, Our love for thee makes not this love ...
— Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul • Various
... me see it. [He gives her the letter, which she reads hastily, then tears it to pieces.] Now, let me tell you, sir, 'Twas a base action to unclose this letter, Or any other not to you address'd. What a curs'd hellish plot hath here been schem'd Against my peace! oh! oh! Maria—oh! [She faints upon ...
— The Female Gamester • Gorges Edmond Howard
... he is close to the bourne of life, when his art is immediately the orifice of the dark, flowering, germinating region where lie lodged the dynamics of the human soul. There are times when it taps vasty regions. There are times when Ravel has but to touch a note, and we unclose; when he has but to let an instrument sing a certain phrase, and things which lie buried deep in the heart rise out of the dark, like the nymph in his piano-poem, dripping with stars. The music ...
— Musical Portraits - Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers • Paul Rosenfeld
... to southward lie the regions Where my loyal flower-legions Hold possession of the year, Filling every month with cheer. Christmas wakes the winter rose; New Year daffodils unclose; Yellow jasmine through the wood Flows in February flood, Dropping from the tallest trees Golden streams that never freeze. Thither now I take my flight Down the pathway of the night, Till I see the southern moon Glisten on the broad lagoon, Where the cypress' dusky green, And the dark magnolia's ...
— The Poems of Henry Van Dyke • Henry Van Dyke
... John plucketh now at his rose To rid himself of a sorrow at heart! Lo,—petal on petal, fierce rays unclose; Anther on anther, sharp spikes outstart; And with blood for dew, the bosom boils; And a gust of sulphur is all its smell; And lo, he is horribly in the toils Of a coal-black giant flower ...
— Robert Browning • C. H. Herford
... free and caught at the windowframe as Blake was leaping through. It checked their progress, but did not sensibly delay it. It was unfortunately her wounded hand with which she had sought to cling, and with an angry, brutal wrench Sir Rowland compelled her to unclose her grasp. He sped down the lawn towards the orchard, where his horse was tethered. And now she knew in a subconscious sort of way why he had earlier withdrawn. He had gone to ...
— Mistress Wilding • Rafael Sabatini
... awoke. Down from the terrace, like the head Of high Kailasa's hill, she sped. Sin in her thoughts, her soul aflame, Where Queen Kaikeyi slept, she came: "Why sleepest thou?" she cried, "arise, Peril is near, unclose thine eyes. Ah, heedless Queen, too blind to know What floods of sin above thee flow! Thy boasts of love and grace are o'er: Thine is the show and nothing more. His favour is an empty cheat, A torrent dried by ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI
... Katharine's mobile little face being a "cut and dried image" of anybody Miss Eunice smiled, and her perplexity vanished—for the time, at least. Then, hearing the kitchen door unclose, she remarked: ...
— The Brass Bound Box • Evelyn Raymond
... reared, To no Medici endeared, German Art arose; Fostering glory smil'd not on her, Ne'er with kingly smiles to sun her, Did her blooms unclose. ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. III • Kuno Francke (Editor-in-Chief)
... over, Mr. Harden still knelt on silently for some minutes. So did Mary. In the midst of the hush, Marcella saw the boy's eyes unclose. He looked with a sort of remote wonder at his mother and the figures beside her. Then suddenly the gaze became eager, concrete; he sought for something. Her eye followed his, and she perceived in the shadow ...
— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... turning beheld an old sailor, who had approached with a glass. He was levelling it over the sea in a direction to the south-east, and somewhat removed from that in which her own eyes had been wandering. Anne moved a few steps thitherward, so as to unclose to her view a deeper sweep on that side, and by this discovered a ship of far larger size than any which had yet dotted the main before her. Its sails were for the most part new and clean, and in comparison with its rapid progress before the ...
— The Trumpet-Major • Thomas Hardy
... unclose my eyes again I saw that it was getting near sundown, and that the sunshine was lighting up the limbs of the great trees beneath which the native village to which I had been brought was built. From where I lay I looked across a broad ...
— Bunyip Land - A Story of Adventure in New Guinea • George Manville Fenn
... voice pierced the stupor, and Dr. Grey was surprised to see the woman's eyes unclose and rest wonderingly upon the countenance hovering ...
— Vashti - or, Until Death Us Do Part • Augusta J. Evans Wilson
... bullet to Crown Point, and his comrade a long fowling-piece, admirable to shoot ducks on the lake. In the midst of the bustle, when the fortress was all alive with its last warlike scene, the ringing of a bell on the lake made me suddenly unclose my eyes, and behold only the gray and weed-grown ruins. They were as peaceful in the sun ...
— Old Ticonderoga, A Picture of The Past - (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... great arms of the beech-tree were around me, soothing me after the miseries I had passed through, and telling me, like a little sick child, that I should be better to-morrow. The waters of themselves lifted me, as with loving arms, to the surface. I breathed again, but did not unclose my eyes. I would not look on the wintry sea, and the pitiless gray sky. Thus I floated, till something gently touched me. It was a little boat floating beside me. How it came there I could not tell; but it rose ...
— Phantastes - A Faerie Romance for Men and Women • George MacDonald
... gradually shading into pale green, and then into clear light wintry blue, while the sun sitting behind two of the loftiest, seemed to confound their outlines, and blend them in one flood of soft hazy brightness. Dr. May looked at his son, and saw his face clear up, his brow expand, and his lips unclose with admiration. ...
— The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations • Charlotte Yonge
... comes forth at the hour of noon, And saith, that the sick from his deathly swoon Will awake anon; and Romara's eye, Uplit, betokens his heartfelt joy; And again o'er the slumberer's couch he bows Till, slowly, those peaceful lids unclose,— When, long, with heavenward-fixed gaze, With lowly prayer and grateful praise, The aged man, from death reprieved, His bosom of ...
— The Baron's Yule Feast: A Christmas Rhyme • Thomas Cooper
... by her voice, which had sung to such praises? Alas! that voice had lost the ingredient of hope, and she feared to unclose her lips lest it might come forth in agony, crying, "God, ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend
... finger on thy lips, Who dost unclose the awful doors for each, That ope but once, and are unclosed no more, Turn the key gently in the mystic ward, And silently unloose the silver cord; Lay thy chill seal of silence upon speech, And mutely beckon through the soundless door To endless ...
— The Coming of the Princess and Other Poems • Kate Seymour Maclean |
