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:
- There Are A Hundred Kinds Of Prayer (Quatrain in Farsi with English Translation) by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan by Shel Silverstein
- Whatif by Shel Silverstein
- New York’s Bad Dream by Matthew Abuelo
- Trench Duty by Siegfried Sassoon
- Holy Thursday (Innocence) by William Blake
- Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса
- Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- The Countess Cathleen In Paradise by William Butler Yeats
- Worry by Mridula Makkuni
- Earthy Anecdote by Wallace Stevens
- Oh fair enough are sky and plain poem – A. E. Housman
- Юнна Мориц – Осень
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 Eve Of St. Agnes poem – John Keats poems
- The Day Is Gone, And All Its Sweets Are Gone poem – John Keats poems
- Stanzas poem – John Keats poems
- Song of the Indian Maid, from ‘Endymion’ poem – John Keats poems
- Robin Hood poem – John Keats poems
- On The Sea poem – John Keats poems
- On The Grasshopper And Cricket poem – John Keats poems
- On Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again poem – John Keats poems
- On Seeing The Elgin Marbles For The First Time poem – John Keats poems
- On Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour poem – John Keats poems
- On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer poem – John Keats poems
- On Fame poem – John Keats poems
- Ode To Psyche poem – John Keats poems
- Ode to Fanny poem – John Keats poems
- Ode To Autumn poem – John Keats poems
- Ode To A Nightingale poem – John Keats poems
- Ode On Melancholy poem – John Keats poems
- Ode On Indolence poem – John Keats poems
- Ode On A Grecian Urn poem – John Keats poems
- O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell 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.