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 169
... falling keeps ; So both a safety from the wind On mutual dependence find . ' Tis now the raven's bleak abode ; ' Tis ... fall , the river's flow , The woody valleys , warm and low ; The windy summit , wild and high , Roughly rushing on ...
... falling keeps ; So both a safety from the wind On mutual dependence find . ' Tis now the raven's bleak abode ; ' Tis ... fall , the river's flow , The woody valleys , warm and low ; The windy summit , wild and high , Roughly rushing on ...
Page 782
... fall ! fall ! fall ! These are the days of liberty ! Fall , tyrants , fall ! How noble the ardour that seizes the soul ! How it bursts from the yoke and the chain ! What power can the fervour of Freedom control , Or its terrible ...
... fall ! fall ! fall ! These are the days of liberty ! Fall , tyrants , fall ! How noble the ardour that seizes the soul ! How it bursts from the yoke and the chain ! What power can the fervour of Freedom control , Or its terrible ...
Page 783
... Fall , tyrants , fall ! Poor vassals who crawl by the Vistula's stream , Hear ! hear the glad call , and obey ! Rise , nations who worship the sun's sacred beam , And drive your Pizarros away . Fall , tyrants , fall ! The cruel dominion ...
... Fall , tyrants , fall ! Poor vassals who crawl by the Vistula's stream , Hear ! hear the glad call , and obey ! Rise , nations who worship the sun's sacred beam , And drive your Pizarros away . Fall , tyrants , fall ! The cruel dominion ...
Contents
JOHN POMFRET 16671702 | 1 |
THOMAS DURFEY 16531723 | 5 |
JOHN PHILIPS 16761709 | 6 |
Copyright | |
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