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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Про это
- Four Quartets 1: Burnt Norton by T. S. Eliot
- Владислав Крапивин – А по ночам у высокого плетня
- Аля Кудряшева – Я работаю солнечной батареей
- A Photograph on the Desk by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Robert Burns: Sappho Redivivus: Fragment
- Makers And Creatures by Vernon Scannell
- The Ringlet poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- A Christmas Carol by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Спиридон Дрожжин – Свети мне, солнышко
- You Are One For Whom Ma Heart Really Cares by Miraj Patel
- Robert Burns: Behold The Hour, The Boat, Arrive:
- Robert Burns: I Dream’d I Lay:
- Ольга Берггольц – Ленинградская осень
- Robert Burns: Braw Lads O’ Galla Water:
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
- Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea by Sylvia Plath
- Two Campers In Cloud Country by Sylvia Plath
- Trio Of Love Songs by Sylvia Plath
- To Eva Descending The Stair by Sylvia Plath
- To A Jilted Lover by Sylvia Plath
- Tinker Jack And The Tidy Wives by Sylvia Plath
- The Trial Of A Man by Sylvia Plath
- The Tour by Sylvia Plath
- The Times Are Tidy by Sylvia Plath
- The Thin People by Sylvia Plath
- The Swarm by Sylvia Plath
- The Surgeon At 2 A.M. by Sylvia Plath
- The Stones by Sylvia Plath
- The Snowman on the Moor by Sylvia Plath
- The Sleepers by Sylvia Plath
- The Shrike by Sylvia Plath
- The Rival by Sylvia Plath
- The Ravaged Face by Sylvia Plath
- The Rabbit Catcher by Sylvia Plath
- The Queen’s Complaint by Sylvia Plath
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.