A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period
As some fond virgin, whom her mother’s care
Drags from the town to wholesome country air,
Just when she learns to roll a melting eye,
And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh;
From the dear man unwilling she must sever,
Yet takes one kiss before she parts for ever:
Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew,
Saw others happy, and with sighs withdrew;
Not that their pleasures caused her discontent,
She sigh’d not that they staid, but that she went.
She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashion’d halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,
To morning-walks, and prayers three hours a-day:
To part her time ‘twixt reading and bohea,
To muse, and spill her solitary tea;
Or o’er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the ‘squire;
Up to her godly garret after seven,
There starve and pray, for that’s the way to heaven.
Some ‘squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack;
Whose game is whist, whose treat, a toast in sack;
Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, and cries–No words!
Or with his hound comes hallooing from the stable,
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;
Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse,
And loves you best of all things–but his horse.
In some fair evening, on your elbow laid,
You dream of triumphs in the rural shade;
In pensive thought recall the fancied scene,
See coronations rise on every green;
Before you pass the imaginary sights
Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter’d knights,
While the spread fan o’ershades your closing eyes;
Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies.
Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls,
And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls!
So when your slave, at some dear idle time,
(Not plagued with headaches, or the want of rhyme)
Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew,
And while he seems to study, thinks of you;
Just when his fancy paints your sprightly eyes,
Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise,
Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite,
Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rush upon my sight;
Vex’d to be still in town, I knit my brow,
Look sour, and hum a tune, as you do now.
A few random poems:
- From Menander by William Cowper
- Hymn to Lucifer poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Early summer rain by Yosa Buson
- In The Bus That Is Frantically Rushing From Cairo To Port Said
- Николай Заболоцкий – Бетховен
- Владимир Маяковский – Смотри, чтоб праздник перешел и в будни
- A Farewell poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- At the Party by W H Auden
- Наум Коржавин – От дурачеств, от ума ли
- Robert Burns: My Eppie Adair:
- Gwaïn To Brookwell by William Barnes
- Олег Бундур – Полёт
- Николай Глазков – Давно хотел сложить стихи
- How Solemn as One by One. by Walt Whitman
- Алексей Плещеев – Ее мне жаль
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
- Meg Merrilies poem – John Keats poems
- Lines On The Mermaid Tavern poem – John Keats poems
- Lines from Endymion poem – John Keats poems
- Lines poem – John Keats poems
- Last Sonnet poem – John Keats poems
- La Belle Dame Sans Merci poem – John Keats poems
- Keen, Fitful Gusts are Whisp’ring Here and There poem – John Keats poems
- Isabella or The Pot of Basil poem – John Keats poems
- John Keats – John Keats Poems
- In Drear-Nighted December poem – John Keats poems
- If By Dull Rhymes Our English Must Be Chain’d poem – John Keats poems
- Hyperion poem – John Keats poems
- Hymn To Apollo poem – John Keats poems
- How Many Bards Gild The Lapses Of Time! poem – John Keats poems
- Hither, Hither, Love poem – John Keats poems
- His Last Sonnet poem – John Keats poems
- Happy Is England! I Could Be Content poem – John Keats poems
- Give Me Women, Wine, and Snuff poem – John Keats poems
- Fragment of an Ode to Maia poem – John Keats poems
- Fill For Me A Brimming Bowl poem – John Keats poems
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
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.