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 85
... ev'ry object to my eyes . For ev'ry shrub , and ev'ry blade of grass , And ev'ry pointed thorn , seemed wrought in glass ; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show , While through the ice the crimson berries glow . The thick ...
... ev'ry object to my eyes . For ev'ry shrub , and ev'ry blade of grass , And ev'ry pointed thorn , seemed wrought in glass ; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show , While through the ice the crimson berries glow . The thick ...
Page 87
... ev'ry town where Thamis rolls his tide , A narrow pass there is , with houses low , Where ever and anon the stream is eyed , And many a boat soft sliding to and fro . There oft are heard the notes of infant woe , The short thick sob ...
... ev'ry town where Thamis rolls his tide , A narrow pass there is , with houses low , Where ever and anon the stream is eyed , And many a boat soft sliding to and fro . There oft are heard the notes of infant woe , The short thick sob ...
Page 317
... ev'ry glance on humankind ; How just that scorn ere yet thy voice declare , Search every state , and canvass ev'ry pray'r . Unnumbered suppliants crowd preferment's gate , Athirst for wealth , and burning to be great ; Delusive Fortune ...
... ev'ry glance on humankind ; How just that scorn ere yet thy voice declare , Search every state , and canvass ev'ry pray'r . Unnumbered suppliants crowd preferment's gate , Athirst for wealth , and burning to be great ; Delusive Fortune ...
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