A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period
I.
In ev’ry Town, where Thamis rolls his Tyde,
A narrow pass there is, with Houses low;
Where ever and anon, the Stream is ey’d,
And many a Boat soft sliding to and fro.
There oft are heard the notes of Infant Woe,
The short thick Sob, loud Scream, and shriller Squall:
How can ye, Mothers, vex your Children so?
Some play, some eat, some cack against the wall,
And as they crouchen low, for bread and butter call.
II.
And on the broken pavement, here and there,
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie;
A brandy and tobacco shop is near,
And hens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by;
And here a sailor’s jacket hangs to dry.
At ev’ry door are sun-burnt matrons seen,
Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry;
Now singing shrill, and scolding eft between;
Scolds answer foul-mouth’d scolds; bad neighbourhood I ween.
III.
The snappish cur, (the passengers’ annoy)
Close at my heel with yelping treble flies;
The whimp’ring girl, and hoarser-screaming boy,
Join to the yelping treble shrilling cries;
The scolding Quean to louder notes doth rise,
And her full pipes those shrilling cries confound;
To her full pipes the grunting hog replies;
The grunting hogs alarm the neighbours round,
And curs, girls, boys, and scolds, in the deep bass are drown’d.
IV.
Hard by a Sty, beneath a roof of thatch,
Dwelt Obloquy, who in her early days
Baskets of fish at Billingsgate did watch,
Cod, whiting, oyster, mackrel, sprat, or plaice:
There learn’d she speech from tongues that never cease.
Slander beside her, like a Mag-pie, chatters,
With Envy, (spitting Cat) dread foe to peace;
Like a curs’d Cur, Malice before her clatters,
And vexing ev’ry wight, tears clothes and all to tatters.
V.
Her dugs were mark’d by ev’ry Collier’s hand,
Her mouth was black as bull-dogs at the stall:
She scratch’d, bit, and spar’d ne lace ne band,
And bitch and rogue her answer was to all;
Nay, e’en the parts of shame by name would call:
Yea, when she passed by or lane or nook,
Would greet the man who turn’d him to the Wall,
And by his hand obscene the porter took,
Nor ever did askance like modest Virgin look.
VI.
Such place hath Deptford, navy-building town,
Woolwich and Wapping smelling strong of pitch;
Such Lambeth, envy of each band and gown,
And Twick’nam such, which fairer scenes enrich,
Grots, statues, urns, and Johnston’s Dog and Bitch,
Ne village is without, on either side,
All up the silver Thames, or all adown;
Ne Richmond’s self, from whose tall front are ey’d
Vales, spires, meandring streams, and Windsor’s tow’ry pride.
A few random poems:
- Come up from the Fields, Father. by Walt Whitman
- Иван Мятлев – Фонарики
- Sunshine through a Cobwebbed Window poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: A Health To Ane I Loe Dear:
- Владимир Корнилов – Отходная
- Владимир Орлов – Белые стихи о черном пуделе
- Федор Сваровский – Об удивительном
- To Dorothy by Marvin Bell
- I see the Four-fold Man by William Blake
- My Aroma
- The Last Leap
- Олег Григорьев – Слезы
- Freedom of Love poem | L’Union Libre (Ma Femme) – Andre Breton poems
- Nijole Miliauskaite – Nijole Miliauskaite
- Tim Turpin by Thomas Hood
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
- Омар Хайям – Лучше пить и веселых красавиц ласкать
- Омар Хайям – Лучше локон любимой, лаская, схватить
- Омар Хайям – Листья дерева жизни, отпущенной мне
- Омар Хайям – Лик розы освежен дыханием весны
- Омар Хайям – Кумир мой, вылепил тебя таким гончар
- Омар Хайям – Куда уйти от пламенных страстей
- Омар Хайям – Кто розу нежную любви привил
- Омар Хайям – Кто не грешит?
- Омар Хайям – Кто мне скажет что завтра случится со мной
- Омар Хайям – Кто битым жизнью был, тот большего добьется
- Омар Хайям – Красой затмила ты Китая дочерей
- Омар Хайям – Кому там от Любви покой необходим
- Омар Хайям – Коль станешь твердым
- Омар Хайям – Когда ветер у розы подол разорвет
- Омар Хайям – Когда ты для меня слепил из глины плоть
- Омар Хайям – Когда под утренней росой дрожит тюльпан
- Омар Хайям – Когда от жизненных освобожусь я пут
- Омар Хайям – Когда к жизни Любовь меня в мир призвала
- Омар Хайям – Когда фиалки льют благоуханье
- Омар Хайям – Из края в край мы держим к смерти путь
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.