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:
- Back-View by William Ernest Henley
- On The Plethora Of Dryads by Sylvia Plath
- Sonnet To George Keats: Written In Sickness poem – John Keats poems
- Gratitude, Addressed To Lady Hesketh by William Cowper
- Иван Бунин – Алёнушка
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Когда бы
- “European Union” by the (Roman/German) Eagles
- Robert Burns: Lass Of Cessnock Banks, The:
- I Had To Leave by Subhash Misra
- Power Of Love by Valentine Mbagu
- Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk by Robert Burns
- Shadow Overhead by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Creative Branding Solutions – So Why Do I Need a Logo?
- Федор Тютчев – Как неожиданно и ярко
- Scented Herbage of My Breast. by Walt Whitman
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
- I Awake and Choose To Live by P.J.Reed
- I Am Me by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- I am Ireland by Patrick Pearse
- I Am In Pain For You by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- HEAL ME by WALID SABA
- Ghost Girl by P.J.Reed
- Full Moon by Walid Saba
- Expressive Moments by Pamela Griffiths
- Expectations by Pamela Griffiths
- Epic by Patrick Kavanagh
- Drowning. Not Waving by P.J.Reed
- Don’t Need Anything by Pat Mullan
- Dinner Date by P.J.Reed
- Detached Living by P.J.Reed
- Desire # 4 by Patricia Fargnoli
- Décembre austral by Patryck Froissart
- Death Fugue by Paul Celan
- Deaf Mute in the Pear Tree by P. K. Page
- Crystal by Paul Celan
- Corona by Paul Celan
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.