A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period
Dear, damn’d distracting town, farewell!
Thy fools no more I’ll tease:
This year in peace, ye critics, dwell,
Ye harlots, sleep at ease!
Soft B– and rough C–s adieu,
Earl Warwick made your moan,
The lively H–k and you
May knock up whores alone.
To drink and droll be Rowe allow’d
Till the third watchman’s toll;
Let Jervas gratis paint, and Frowde
Save three-pence and his soul.
Farewell, Arbuthnot’s raillery
On every learned sot;
And Garth, the best good Christian he,
Although he knows it not.
Lintot, farewell! thy bard must go;
Farewell, unhappy Tonson!
Heaven gives thee for thy loss of Rowe,
Lean Philips, and fat Johnson.
Why should I stay? Both parties rage;
My vixen mistress squalls;
The wits in envious feuds engage:
And Homer (damn him!) calls.
The love of arts lies cold and dead
In Halifax’s urn:
And not one Muse of all he fed
Has yet the grace to mourn.
My friends, by turns, my friends confound,
Betray, and are betrayed:
Poor Y–r’s sold for fifty pound,
And B–ll is a jade.
Why make I friendships with the great,
When I no favour seek?
Or follow girls, seven hours in eight?
I us’d but once a week.
Still idle, with a busy air,
Deep whimsies to contrive;
The gayest valetudinaire,
Most thinking rake, alive.
Solicitous for others’ ends,
Though fond of dear repose;
Careless or drowsy with my friends,
And frolic with my foes.
Luxurious lobster-nights, farewell,
For sober, studious days!
And Burlington’s delicious meal,
For salads, tarts, and pease!
Adieu to all, but Gay alone,
Whose soul, sincere and free,
Loves all mankind, but flatters none,
And so may starve with me.

A few random poems:
- Translation of a Prayer of Brutus poem – Alexander Pope
- Far Within Us #6 by Vasko Popa
- On a Fan of the Author’s Design poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Accidents by Russell Edson
- Do You Remember 1914 Grandad? by Steve Sant
- The Instructor by Rudyard Kipling
- Crossing the Frontier
- “Why should I, from this long and losing strife ” poem – Alfred Austin
- Аля Кудряшева – Я этой ночью уйду, не спи
- Patience by Rabindranath Tagore
- Rhyming Reply to a Note from Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- Владимир Корнилов – Державинское
- Heaven and You by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- Stopped Dead by Sylvia Plath
- Наум Коржавин – О Господи! Как я хочу умереть
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 Merry Guide poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lent Lily poem – A. E. Housman
- The Laws of God, The Laws of Man poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- The Isle Of Portland poem – A. E. Housman
- The Immortal Part poem – A. E. Housman
- The Immortal Part poem – A. E. Housman
- The Grizzly Bear poem – A. E. Housman
- The Fairies Break Their Dances poem – A. E. Housman
- The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux poem – A. E. Housman
- Tell me not here, it needs not saying poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Tell me not here, it needs not saying poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending? poem – A. E. Housman
- Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending? poem – A. E. Housman
- Say, Lad, Have You Things to Do? poem – A. E. Housman
- Say, Lad, Have You Things to Do? poem – A. E. Housman
- Reveille poem – A. E. Housman
- Others, I Am Not the First poem – A. E. Housman
- Others, I Am Not the First poem – A. E. Housman
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.