A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period
As some fond virgin, whom her mother’s care
Drags from the town to wholesome country air,
Just when she learns to roll a melting eye,
And hear a spark, yet think no danger nigh;
From the dear man unwilling she must sever,
Yet takes one kiss before she parts for ever:
Thus from the world fair Zephalinda flew,
Saw others happy, and with sighs withdrew;
Not that their pleasures caused her discontent,
She sigh’d not that they staid, but that she went.
She went to plain-work, and to purling brooks,
Old-fashion’d halls, dull aunts, and croaking rooks:
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,
To morning-walks, and prayers three hours a-day:
To part her time ‘twixt reading and bohea,
To muse, and spill her solitary tea;
Or o’er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,
Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon;
Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire,
Hum half a tune, tell stories to the ‘squire;
Up to her godly garret after seven,
There starve and pray, for that’s the way to heaven.
Some ‘squire, perhaps, you take delight to rack;
Whose game is whist, whose treat, a toast in sack;
Who visits with a gun, presents you birds,
Then gives a smacking buss, and cries–No words!
Or with his hound comes hallooing from the stable,
Makes love with nods, and knees beneath a table;
Whose laughs are hearty, though his jests are coarse,
And loves you best of all things–but his horse.
In some fair evening, on your elbow laid,
You dream of triumphs in the rural shade;
In pensive thought recall the fancied scene,
See coronations rise on every green;
Before you pass the imaginary sights
Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter’d knights,
While the spread fan o’ershades your closing eyes;
Then give one flirt, and all the vision flies.
Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls,
And leave you in lone woods, or empty walls!
So when your slave, at some dear idle time,
(Not plagued with headaches, or the want of rhyme)
Stands in the streets, abstracted from the crew,
And while he seems to study, thinks of you;
Just when his fancy paints your sprightly eyes,
Or sees the blush of soft Parthenia rise,
Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite,
Streets, chairs, and coxcombs rush upon my sight;
Vex’d to be still in town, I knit my brow,
Look sour, and hum a tune, as you do now.
A few random poems:
- Outset by Mike Yuan
- Олег Бундур – Лагуна
- “My soul is sunk in all–suffusing shame” poem – Alfred Austin
- To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope
- Doomes-Day: The Fourth Houre by William Alexander
- If I Had A Brontosaurus by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Корнилов – Дождь обычный
- Faith and Faiths by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Федор Сологуб – Зальдивши тайный зной страстей, Валерий
- They Thought Her Crazy by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Юлия Друнина – Забытая тетрадь, Истертые листы
- Кондратий Рылеев – Извинение перед Н.М. Тевяшовой
- The Lie by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Пещеры Кизиль-коба
- Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge by Robert Burns
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
- Groupie poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Glacier poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Ghouls parade poem – Brako Attafua poems | Poetry Monster
- Ghouls’ Parade poem – Brako Attafua poems | Poetry Monster
- Gazel poem – Yahya Kemal Beyatli poems | Poetry Monster
- Fantasy poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Drying Clothes poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- Destiny poem – Zubair Ahmad Parray poems | Poetry Monster
- Bloodstains from Iraq poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Autumn poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Adieu poem – Yuvraj Johri poems | Poetry Monster
- About Troy poem – Zbigniew Herbert poems | Poetry Monster
- A Faery’s Lament poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- A Visit to Yu’s Cave poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- A Knocker poem – Zbigniew Herbert poems | Poetry Monster
- A Ballad That We Do Not Perish poem – Zbigniew Herbert poems | Poetry Monster
- One Night, The Fukien Robbers poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- O My Lord, Your Dwelling Places Are Lovely poem – Yehudah ha-Levi poems | Poetry Monster
- Not Speaking Of The Way poem – Yosano Akiko poems | Poetry Monster
- My Sweet Lad You Have Not Been Lost poem – Yiannis Ritsos poems | Poetry Monster
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.