The marble index of a mind forever
Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.

The marble index of a mind forever
Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.

The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break read more

The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone

Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater
To raise the dead to life than to create
read more

Sculpture is more than painting. It is greater
To raise the dead to life than to create
Phantoms that seem to live.

So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The read more

So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.

The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould,
The more the marble wastes
read more

The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould,
The more the marble wastes
The more the statue grows.

The Paphian Queen to Cnidos made repair
Across the tide to see her image there:
Then looking read more

The Paphian Queen to Cnidos made repair
Across the tide to see her image there:
Then looking up and round the prospect wide,
When did Praxiteles see me thus? she cried.

Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

Not from a vain or shallow thought
His awful Jove young Phidias brought.

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.