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:
- Blank Joy by Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Complaint Of A Forsaken Indian Woman by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Ты холодна
- Exodus by Michael Nikoletseas
- A Fairy Song by William Shakespeare
- Алексей Толстой – Ты не спрашивай, не распытывай
- Аля Кудряшева – Двадцать перышек за плечами
- Зинаида Александрова – Подснежник
- The Battle Of Harlaw–Evergreen Version poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Spinster by Sylvia Plath
- In A Restaurant by Sara Teasdale
- Владимир Британишский – Богаевский
- I Dream’d in a Dream. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Британишский – Глухарь
- Василий Казин – Кирилл и Мефодий
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
- Angry People by Roger Hayes
- You and I by Roger McGough
- Who hears the wind by Roland Zoss
- Waiting by Rohith
- The Trouble with Snowmen by Roger McGough
- The Time I Like Best by Roger McGough
- The Lesson by Roger McGough
- The Leader by Roger McGough
- The Identification by Roger McGough
- Survivor by Roger McGough
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Soil by Roger McGough
- Silences still voice by Rohini Bhatia Singj
- Schlummerland – Slumberland / CD by Roland Zoss
- Prayer by Roland Flint
- Ladies And Gentlemen In Outer Space by Ron Padgett
- ode to love by Rohit Sridharan
- My iPod by Roland Bastien
- Mrs Moon by Roger McGough
- Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough
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.