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:
- In The Month When Sings The Cuckoo poem – Alfred Austin
- Song—Willie brew’d a Peck o’ Maut by Robert Burns
- Hymn Before Action by Rudyard Kipling
- The Three Beggars by William Butler Yeats
- The gypsy song by Sunil Sharma
- The Speed Of Light by W. S. Merwin
- Валерий Брюсов – И. Туманьяну надпись на книге (Да будет праведно возмездие)
- Lines to Mr. John Kennedy by Robert Burns
- To the Victor by William Ellery Leonard
- Sonnet 34: Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day by William Shakespeare
- Occasioned By Some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham poem – Alexander Pope
- On An Insight On Grecian Spring by Nithin Purple
- Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground by Stephen Crane
- Николай Языков – Е. А. Тимашевой (Молодая ученица)
- Sonnet CXXXI by William Shakespeare
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
- Sir Giles’ War-Song by William Morris
- Sir Galahad, a Christmas Mystery by William Morris
- Sad-Eyed and Soft and Grey by William Morris
- Riding Together by William Morris
- Pomona by William Morris
- Our Hands Have Met by William Morris
- Night by William Morris
- Near But Far Away by William Morris
- Near Avalon by William Morris
- Mine and Thine by William Morris
- March by William Morris
- Love’s Gleaning Tide by William Morris
- King Arthur’s Tomb by William Morris
- In Prison by William Morris
- Iceland First Seen by William Morris
- For the Bed at Kelmscott by William Morris
- Flora by William Morris
- Earth the Healer, Earth the Keeper by William Morris
- Day by William Morris
- Autumn by William Morris
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.