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:
- Doomes-Day: The Twelfth Houre by William Alexander
- The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Big Grab by Tony Hoagland
- Adam: A Sacred Drama. Act 1. by William Cowper
- The Dragon and The Unicorn by Mary Etta Metcalf
- The River Has Its Memories by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Dirty Ol’ Me by Shel Silverstein
- The Bonifratrian Hospital by Nijole Miliauskaite
- The Beggar by William Ellery Leonard
- Яков Полонский – На пути
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Song—Beware o’ Bonie Ann by Robert Burns
- Ольга Седакова – Кот, бабочка, свеча
- The Indian To His Love by William Butler Yeats
- Books And Thoughts
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 Eagle That is Forgotten by Vachel Lindsay
- The Drunkards in the Street by Vachel Lindsay
- The Dandelion by Vachel Lindsay
- The Cornfields by Vachel Lindsay
- The Congo: A Study of the Negro Race by Vachel Lindsay
- The City That Will Not Repent by Vachel Lindsay
- The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay
- The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken by Vachel Lindsay
- The Booker Washington Trilogy by Vachel Lindsay
- The Beggar’s Valentine by Vachel Lindsay
- The Bankrupt Peace-Maker by Vachel Lindsay
- The Amaranth by Vachel Lindsay
- The Alchemist’s Petition by Vachel Lindsay
- Sweethearts of the Year by Vachel Lindsay
- Sweet Briars of the Stairways by Vachel Lindsay
- Sunshine by Vachel Lindsay
- Star of My Heart by Vachel Lindsay
- St. Francis of Assisi by Vachel Lindsay
- Springfield Magical by Vachel Lindsay
- Shakespeare by Vachel Lindsay
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.