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:
- Robert Burns: A Grace Before Dinner, Extempore:
- I closed my eyes to creation by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Traveling Through The Dark by William Stafford
- Николай Огарев – В прогулке поздней видел я
- Валерий Брюсов – К моей стране
- 我被包围了
- On The Benefit Received By His Majesty From Sea-Bathing, In The Year 1789 by William Cowper
- Кондратий Рылеев – Как солнце ни блестит и как оно ни светит
- Evening in a Sugar Orchard by Robert Frost
- Apology poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry by Robert Burns
- Виталий Сивяков – Крещенье
- Shivratri The Night Of Shiva While The Procession Passed At Ramesram
- My Lady’s Law by Rudyard Kipling
- You Are Mine by Pushpendra Singh Baghel
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 Scarecrow by Ross D Tyler
- The (REAL) Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare by Ross D Tyler
- The missing pen by Ross D Tyler
- The Appointment by Ruth Padel
- Ten Years After by Graham Rowlands
- Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
- South Africa by Ronald G. Auguste
- Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. by Russell James
- Savour Your Life by Ronald G. Auguste
- Rosslyn To The Prime Minister by Graham Rowlands
- Writing to Onegin by Ruth Padel
- Icicles round a Tree in Dumfriesshire by Ruth Padel
- Pan’s Lament by Rose Mary Boehm
- On The Menu by Graham Rowlands
- Night by Ruth Padel
- Nanna by Ross D Tyler
- My Views of Man by Ronald G. Auguste
- Multi-Miners & Co. Present Ned Kelly by Graham Rowlands
- Miss Worthington by Rose Mary Boehm
- Meant To Be by Russ Pergram
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.