A poem by Alcaeus of Mytilene (c. 625/620 – c. 580 BC)
What constitutes a State?
Not high-raised battlement, or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown’d;
No:–Men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:–
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain;
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain.
A few random poems:
- Martha Washington by Sidney Lanier
- Юлия Друнина – Другу
- Lines to John Syme, Esq., with a dozen of Porter by Robert Burns
- For The Anniversary Of John Keats’ Death by Sara Teasdale
- A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Linden On The Lawn by William Barnes
- Николай Гумилев – Крыса
- The Minotaur by Ted Hughes
- Ольга Берггольц – Память (Всей земною горечью и болью)
- Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope
- If It Is True What the Prophets Write by William Blake
- Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes by William Shakespeare
- Song-Books of the War by Siegfried Sassoon
- complete text of the discovery of Kama Sutra by Raj Arumugam
- Вера Павлова – Плачу, потому что не можешь со мной жить
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
- Владимир Набоков – Стансы (Ничем не смоешь подписи косой)
- Владимир Набоков – Спроси у хрустальной луны
- Владимир Набоков – Скитальцы
- Владимир Набоков – Шахматный конь
- Владимир Набоков – Санкт-Петербург
- Владимир Набоков – Расстрел
- Владимир Набоков – Путь
- Владимир Набоков – Пускай все горестней и глуше
- Владимир Набоков – Простая песня, грусть простая
- Владимир Набоков – Поэт
- Владимир Набоков – Памяти друга
- Владимир Набоков – Осень
- Владимир Набоков – О, любовь, ты светла и крылата
- Владимир Набоков – О чем я думаю
- Владимир Набоков – На сельском кладбище
- Владимир Набоков – Мечтал я о тебе так часто
- Владимир Набоков – Лыжный прыжок
- Владимир Набоков – Кубы
- Владимир Набоков – Кинематораф
- Владимир Набоков – Какое сделал я дурное дело
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

Alcaeus of Mytilene ( c. 625/620 – c. 580 Before Christ) ] was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.