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:
- Николай Гумилев – Командиру 5-го Александровского полка
- Robert Burns: Reply To An Announcement By J. Rankine: On His Writing To The Poet, That A Girl In That Part Of The Country Was With A Child To Him.
- Омар Хайям – День каждый услаждай вином
- Владимир Высоцкий – О конце войны
- Омар Хайям – Миг придёт, и смерть исторгнет жадно
- Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems
- A New Year Greeting by W H Auden
- The Rear-Guard by Siegfried Sassoon
- Нина Воронель – Одержимые
- Gwin King of Norway by William Blake
- Ballades V – Of His Choice Of A Sepulchre poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Written After Leaving Her At New Burns by William Cowper
- Олег Сердобольский – Два кораблика
- Владимир Набоков – Глаза
- Evenén in the Village by William Barnes
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
- November by William Cullen Bryant
- Mutation by William Cullen Bryant
- Love and Folly by William Cullen Bryant
- June by William Cullen Bryant
- Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood by William Cullen Bryant
- William Cullen Bryant – William Cullen Bryant
- Hymn To Death by William Cullen Bryant
- Hymn of the City by William Cullen Bryant
- Consumption by William Cullen Bryant
- After a Tempest by William Cullen Bryant
- A Song of Pitcairn’s Island by William Cullen Bryant
- A Forest Hymn by William Cullen Bryant
- William Henry Davies
- The Example by William Henry Davies
- The Dark Hour by William Henry Davies
- The Child and the Mariner by William Henry Davies
- The Boy by William Henry Davies
- The Bird of Paradise by William Henry Davies
- The Best Friend by William Henry Davies
- Sweet Stay-at-Home by William Henry Davies
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.