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 370
... side by side , To wait the withering force of wind and sun ; And thus their artless tale of love begun . A finer hay - day seer was never seen ; The greenish sops already luik less green ; As weel the greenish sops will suin be dried As ...
... side by side , To wait the withering force of wind and sun ; And thus their artless tale of love begun . A finer hay - day seer was never seen ; The greenish sops already luik less green ; As weel the greenish sops will suin be dried As ...
Page 403
... Side . A Pastoral Soliloquy THRICE happy , who free from ambition and pride , In a rural retreat , has a quiet fire side ; I love my fire side , there I long to repair , And to drink a delightful oblivion of care . Oh ! when shall I ...
... Side . A Pastoral Soliloquy THRICE happy , who free from ambition and pride , In a rural retreat , has a quiet fire side ; I love my fire side , there I long to repair , And to drink a delightful oblivion of care . Oh ! when shall I ...
Page 656
... side by side , When Frenchmen were our foes . ' Twas on the seventeenth of June , I can't forget the day , The flower of our army For Charles - Town sailed away . 90 10 20 The town was soon in ashes laid , When bombs 656 JOHN HAWTHORN ...
... side by side , When Frenchmen were our foes . ' Twas on the seventeenth of June , I can't forget the day , The flower of our army For Charles - Town sailed away . 90 10 20 The town was soon in ashes laid , When bombs 656 JOHN HAWTHORN ...
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