A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period
Semichorus.
Oh Tyrant Love! hast thou possest
The prudent, learn’d, and virtuous breast?
Wisdom and wit in vain reclaim,
And Arts but soften us to feel thy flame.
Love, soft intruder, enters here,
But ent’ring learns to be sincere.
Marcus with blushes owns he loves,
And Brutus tenderly reproves.
Why, Virtue, dost thou blame desire,
Which Nature has imprest?
Why, Nature, dost thou soonest fire
The mild and gen’rous breast?
Chorus.
Love’s purer flames the Gods approve;
The Gods and Brutus bent to love:
Brutus for absent Portia sighs,
And sterner Cassius melts at Junia’s eyes.
What is loose love? a transient gust,
Spent in a sudden storm of lust,
A vapour fed from wild desire,
A wand’ring, self-consuming fire,
But Hymen’s kinder flames unite;
And burn for ever one;
Chaste as cold Cynthia’s virgin light,
Productive as the Sun.
Semichorus.
Oh source of ev’ry social tie,
United wish, and mutual joy!
What various joys on one attend,
As son, as father, brother husband, friend?
Whether his hoary sire he spies,
While thousand grateful thoughts arise;
Or meets his spouse’s fonder eye;
Or views his smiling progeny;
What tender passions take their turns,
What home-felt raptures move?
His heart now melts, now leaps, now burns,
With rev’rence, hope, and love.
Chorus.
Hence guilty joys, distastes, surmises,
Hence false tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, surprises;
Fires that scorch, yet dare not shine
Purest love’s unwasting treasure,
Constant faith, fair hope, long leisure,
Days of ease, and nights of pleasure;
Sacred Hymen! these are thine.
A few random poems:
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка о Пете, толстом ребенке, и о Симе, который тонкий
- Family Caregivers Have Promises to Keep
- He Is Calm, and I Am Too by Mahmoud Darwish
- The Withdrawal by Robert Lowell
- How To Paint A Water Lily by Ted Hughes
- Lines Addressed To Dr. Darwin, Author Of The ‘Botanic Garden.’ by William Cowper
- Кондратий Рылеев – О милый друг, как внятен голос твой
- Out over the Forth (Song) by Robert Burns
- Solitude poem – Alexander Pope
- Joy, Shipmate, Joy! by Walt Whitman
- Lover’s Gifts XL: A Message Came by Rabindranath Tagore
- Николай Огарев – Расстались мы
- Twelve Months After by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Danish Boy by William Wordsworth
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Parabola
- Observation Car
- Morning Coffee
- Meditation on a Bone
- Easter Hymn
- Death of the Bird
- Crossing the Frontier
- Conquistador
- Commination
- Australia
- Winter Dream poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Waking poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Vision poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Valedictory poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Topiary poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Reef poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Louse-Hunters poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Life Theoretic poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Flowers poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Elms poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
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Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
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Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744) was a a post-Restoration English poet and satirist. He is a poet of the (British) Augustan period and one of its greatest artistic exponents.