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:
- Last Words by Philip Levine
- I Begin To Think by Satish Verma
- The Delibash poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Merry Guide poem – A. E. Housman
- Gwaïn To Brookwell by William Barnes
- Алексей Плещеев – Тобой лишь ясны дни мои
- Minimalism And The Elm Choka
- The True Lover by A. E. Housman
- Владимир Маяковский – Гевлок Вильсон
- Philomela by Sir Philip Sidney
- Ольга Берггольц – Из блокнота сорок первого года
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Степь
- Георгий Иванов – Теплятся жаркие свечи
- Songs From “Prince Lucifer” II – Mother-Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Crossing the Frontier
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
- Give Me Back My Rags #12 by Vasko Popa
- The Prisoners Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- The Craftsmen Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Before The Game by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #1 by Vasko Popa
- The Benefactors Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- The Enemies Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Hide-And-Seek by Vasko Popa
- The Owners Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Race by Vasko Popa
- In The Village Of My Ancestors by Vasko Popa
- Last News About The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Give Me Back My Rags by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #5 by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #4 by Vasko Popa
- A Forgetful Number by Vasko Popa
- A Conceited Mistake by Vasko Popa
- Words – “My only friends forever” by Vasishta Sharma Gudi
- Winter Wind by Vasil Slavov
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.