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:
- I Have A Rendezvous With Death
- You Know Where You Did Despise poem – Alexander Pope
- Николай Заболоцкий – Гурзуф ночью
- Readen Ov A Head-Stwone by William Barnes
- Анатолий Жигулин – Москва
- The Leaders Of The Crowd by William Butler Yeats
- The Cap And Bells; Or, The Jealousies: A Faery Tale — Unfinished poem – John Keats poems
- Hudibras and Milton Reconciled by William Somervile
- Аля Кудряшева – Зима застыла среди теней
- Олег Григорьев – Шмель
- Sonnet LXVII by William Shakespeare
- The Sympathies of the Long Married by Robert Bly
- Sadness and Joy by William Henry Davies
- Николай Карамзин – Пророчество на 1799 год, найденное в бумагах Нострадамуса
- Владимир Маяковский – За 10 месяцев 1920 года… (РОСТА №748)
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
- Владимир Костров – Мы на тяге ракетной берёзовых дров
- Владимир Костров – Душа, не кайся и не майся
- Владимир Костров – До чего нестерпимо и жёстко подуло
- Владимир Костров – Что может знать чужак
- Владимир Костров – Ботанический сад МГУ
- Владимир Костров – Бедное сердце болит спозаранку
- Владимир Костров – 1380 год
- Владислав Крапивин – Все спит в тропической ночи
- Владислав Крапивин – В южных морях и у севера дальнего
- Владислав Крапивин – Тяжелый толчок и вспышка у глаз
- Владислав Крапивин – Спокойная ночь
- Владислав Крапивин – Рыжий конь
- Владислав Крапивин – Под ветрами нам плыть
- Владислав Крапивин – На Диком Западе
- Владислав Крапивин – Маленький принц
- Владислав Крапивин – Когда тебя замучил враг
- Владислав Крапивин – Гонка
- Владислав Крапивин – Было все хорошо до недавней поры
- Владислав Крапивин – А по ночам у высокого плетня
- Владимир Вологдин – Не играйте, мальчики, в войну
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.