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:
- Why Write? by Mark Olynyk
- November 1968
- The Poetry That Is Life
- zen: a very short history by Raj Arumugam
- A Sunrise Song. by Sidney Lanier
- Book1 Prologue by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- “Mike Teavee…” by Roald Dahl
- The Pike poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet 38: How can my Muse want subject to invent by William Shakespeare
- An Elegy On The Glory Of Her Sex, Mrs Mary Blaize by Oliver Goldsmith
- Владимир Корнилов – Арена
- Tulips by Sylvia Plath
- We put the urn aboard ship by Sappho
- When the universe speaks by Preeth Nambiar
- Нина Воронель – Бывает, что вещи меня ненавидят
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
- Otho The Great – Act II poem – John Keats poems
- Otho The Great – Act I poem – John Keats poems
- On Visiting The Tomb Of Burns poem – John Keats poems
- On Receiving A Laurel Crown From Leigh Hunt poem – John Keats poems
- On Receiving A Curious Shell poem – John Keats poems
- On Hearing The Bag-Pipe And Seeing “The Stranger” Played At Inverary poem – John Keats poems
- On Death poem – John Keats poems
- On A Dream poem – John Keats poems
- Ode. Written On The Blank Page Before Beaumont And Fletcher’s Tragi-Comedy ‘The Fair Maid Of The In poem – John Keats poems
- Ode To Apollo poem – John Keats poems
- O Blush Not So! poem – John Keats poems
- Lines Written In The Highlands After A Visit To Burns’s Country poem – John Keats poems
- Lines To Fanny poem – John Keats poems
- Lines Rhymed In A Letter From Oxford poem – John Keats poems
- Lines On Seeing A Lock Of Milton’s Hair poem – John Keats poems
- Lamia. Part II poem – John Keats poems
- Lamia. Part I poem – John Keats poems
- King Stephen poem – John Keats poems
- Isabella; Or, The Pot Of Basil: A Story From Boccaccio poem – John Keats poems
- I Stood Tip-Toe Upon A Little Hill poem – John Keats poems
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.