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 

• Essay on Man poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV, To Richard Boyle, poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistle II: To A Lady (Of the Characters of Women) poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Eloisa to Abelard poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Couplets on Wit poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Argus poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• An Essay on Man in Four Epistles: Epistle 1 poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• An Essay On Criticism poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 3 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 2 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 1 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Dying Christian to His Soul poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Three Gentle Shepherds poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Temple of Fame poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English

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