The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century VerseRoger H. Lonsdale, Roger Lonsdale Anthologies of eighteenth-century verse have tended to confirm traditional notions of the period as one of untroubled elegance, urbanity, and decorum. Offering over 550 poems and extracts by more than 250 poets, The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth-Century Verse presents a truer picture of this age as a much less stable and decorous time. This extraordinarily comprehensive volume includes not only a generous selection of verse by such renowned poets as Swift, Pope, Johnson, Gray, Smart, Goldsmith, Cowper, Blake, and Burns, but also a large number of poems by lesser-known and previously ignored poets. Intermixing the familiar styles and preoccupations of "polite" taste with much less familiar verse from all social levels, it reveals the willingness of the century's poets to respond graphically, humorously, or unconventionally to all aspects of rural and urban life. Topics range from golf and hypnotism to amorous adventure and marital discord, from growing sensitivity to natural beauty to fear of the effects of the Industrial Revolution, and from the anguish of poverty and unemployment to animated political exchanges in the wake of the French Revolution. Taken together, these poems reveal that both unpredictability and familiarity played as significant a role as Augustan reason played in the world of eighteenth-century poetry. The anthology also includes a helpful introduction, notes, and a glossary. |
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Page 151
... Green AT Polwart on the Green If you'll meet me the morn , Where lasses do convene To dance about the thorn ; A kindly welcome you shall meet Frae her wha likes to view A lover and a lad complete , The lad and lover you . Let dorty ...
... Green AT Polwart on the Green If you'll meet me the morn , Where lasses do convene To dance about the thorn ; A kindly welcome you shall meet Frae her wha likes to view A lover and a lad complete , The lad and lover you . Let dorty ...
Page 202
... Green WHERE fair Sabrina's wand'ring currents flow , A large smooth plain extends its verdant brow ; Here ev'ry morn , while fruitful vapours feed The swelling blade and bless the smoking mead , A cruel tyrant reigns : like Time , the ...
... Green WHERE fair Sabrina's wand'ring currents flow , A large smooth plain extends its verdant brow ; Here ev'ry morn , while fruitful vapours feed The swelling blade and bless the smoking mead , A cruel tyrant reigns : like Time , the ...
Page 289
... green ; Some , hilly walks ; all , exercise ; Fling but a stone , the giant dies . Laugh and be well ; monkeys have been Extreme good doctors for the spleen ; And kitten , if the humour hit , Has harlequined away the fit . Since mirth ...
... green ; Some , hilly walks ; all , exercise ; Fling but a stone , the giant dies . Laugh and be well ; monkeys have been Extreme good doctors for the spleen ; And kitten , if the humour hit , Has harlequined away the fit . Since mirth ...
Contents
JOHN POMFRET 16671702 | 1 |
THOMAS DURFEY 16531723 | 5 |
JOHN PHILIPS 16761709 | 6 |
Copyright | |
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Bavius beauty beneath bless breast breath charms clouds cried dear death delight distant soil divine dread dreams Dunciad e'er Ev'n ev'ry eyes face fair fame fancy fate fear fire flies flow'rs fools give grace grave Grongar Hill hand happy head hear heart heav'n honour Kenrick Prescot labour Lady Leonard Howard light live look Lord maid majestic band Malebranche mind morning mourn Muse nature ne'er never night numbers nymph o'er once pain passion plain pleasure poets poor porringers pow'r pride rage rapture rill rise round scene shade shine sighs sing skies sleep smile soft song soul spleen Stephen Duck Stockjobbers swain sweet Sylphs tear tell thee thine things thou thought toil trembling turn Twas twill verse waves wild wind wings wretch wyllowe youth