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I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free, And give them voice and utterance once again. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free, And give them voice and utterance once again. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.

Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
William Cowper
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Familiar Quotations, ninth edition (1905 printing) (1905 AD)

The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 34.

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.