Farewell to London poem – Alexander Pope

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.

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Poems in English 

• A Serenade poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• A Magic Moment I Remember poem – Alexander Pushkin by Александр Пушкин
• Winter – The Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Vertumnus and Pomona : Ovid’s Metamorphoses, book 14 [v. 623-771] poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Verses Left by Mr. Pope poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Translation of a Prayer of Brutus poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• To Mrs. M. B. On Her Birthday poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• To Mr. Thomas Southern, on his Birth-Day poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Three Gentle Shepherds poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Temple of Fame poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Messiah : A Sacred Eclogue poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Looking-Glass. : on Mrs. Pulteney poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Fable of Dryope – Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 9, [v. 324-393] poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Dying Christian to His Soul poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Dunciad: Book IV poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Dunciad: Book III. poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Dunciad: Book II. poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope

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