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 362
... Dear lost companions of my tuneful art , Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes , Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart , Ye died amidst your dying country's cries- No more I weep . They do not sleep . On yonder cliffs , a ...
... Dear lost companions of my tuneful art , Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes , Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart , Ye died amidst your dying country's cries- No more I weep . They do not sleep . On yonder cliffs , a ...
Page 634
... dear , my words I'll eat : I did not think you'd been so kind , You're a good deary now I find . Give me a kiss , ye coaxing jade , I tell you that our fortune's made . My dear , your meaning pray explain . What are the contracts ? I'm ...
... dear , my words I'll eat : I did not think you'd been so kind , You're a good deary now I find . Give me a kiss , ye coaxing jade , I tell you that our fortune's made . My dear , your meaning pray explain . What are the contracts ? I'm ...
Page 859
... Dear Cloe , how blubbered is that pretty face , 34 Dear Dolly , stay thy scampering joints one minute , 489 Dear , farewell , a little while , 132 Dear Knight , how great a drudge is he 143 Dear object of my love , whose pow'rful charms ...
... Dear Cloe , how blubbered is that pretty face , 34 Dear Dolly , stay thy scampering joints one minute , 489 Dear , farewell , a little while , 132 Dear Knight , how great a drudge is he 143 Dear object of my love , whose pow'rful charms ...
Contents
JOHN POMFRET 16671702 | 1 |
THOMAS DURFEY 16531723 | 5 |
JOHN PHILIPS 16761709 | 6 |
Copyright | |
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