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:
- Алексей Плещеев – Молчание
- Омар Хайям – Друг, два понятия должен бы ты затвердить
- Memorials Of A Tour Of Scotland, 1803 VI. Glen-Almain, Or, The Narrow Glen by William Wordsworth
- So You Say by Mark Strand
- Robert Burns: The Farewell To the Brethren of St. James’ Lodge, Tarbolton:
- Вера Полозкова – Мало ли кто
- Юнна Мориц – В цирке
- Наум Коржавин – Двадцатые годы
- Владимир Вишневский – Незаконная гордость
- Farewell to Eliza (Song) by Robert Burns
- Николай Карамзин – Эпитафия (Он жил в сем мире для того)
- Demon And Beast by William Butler Yeats
- Какое имя чудное Валерия
- Memory by William Butler Yeats
- Behavior. by Walt Whitman
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
- The Incurious Bencher by William Somervile
- The Hip by William Somervile
- The Happy Lunatic by William Somervile
- The Frog’s Choice by William Somervile
- The Dog and the Bear by William Somervile
- The Devil Outwitted by William Somervile
- The Coquette by William Somervile
- The Captive Trumpeter by William Somervile
- The Busy Indolent by William Somervile
- The Bowling-Green by William Somervile
- The Bald-Pated Welshman and the Fly by William Somervile
- Song by William Somervile
- On Presenting to a Lady a White Rose and a Red on the Tenth of June by William Somervile
- On Miranda’s Leaving the Country by William Somervile
- Mahomet Ali Beg; Or, the Faithful Minister of State by William Somervile
- Liberty, and Love; or, the Two Sparrows by William Somervile
- Hunting Song by William Somervile
- Hudibras and Milton Reconciled by William Somervile
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games by William Somervile
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games – Canto 3 by William Somervile
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.