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—The Highland Balou by Robert Burns
- Poppies In July by Sylvia Plath
- La Vie Boheme poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- You Smile Upon Your Friend To-Day poem – A. E. Housman
- Tears. by Walt Whitman
- Robert Burns: Address Spoken by Miss Fontenelle on her Benefit Night, December 4th, 1793, at the Theatre, Dumfries.:
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- New Hampshire by Robert Frost
- К той, что названа Кариной
- One Sweeps By. by Walt Whitman
- Gulliver by Sylvia Plath
- Ode to Mother Nature by Walter William Safar
- Вера Павлова – Перед дальней дорогой
- ‘Tis Said, That Some Have Died For Love by William Wordsworth
- Children Are Like Water by Robert Lloyd Jaffe
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
- Haiku by Robby Charters
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- For what’s worth breathing by Rixa White
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- They are Cruel by Rixa White
- The Polar Koala Bear by Robby Charters
- The Lame Guy by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- The Invisible by Rixa White
- The Epic of Jack and Jill by Robby Charters
- The Commitment by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- The Beginning of the End by Rixa White
- The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
- Start Growing by Rixa White
- Splenda by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- Show me by Rixa White
- Rhyme by the Bog by Robby Charters
- Power of Peace by Rixa White
- Poetic Justice by Robby Charters
- Old Times by Rixa white
- Nothing is Real by Rixa White
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.