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 77
... soul , and then you'll see What crystal streams of friendship glide through me ; Unravel this my soul , and then you'll know That love can find another way to flow Than in seraphic channels : here's the soul That moves in friendship's ...
... soul , and then you'll see What crystal streams of friendship glide through me ; Unravel this my soul , and then you'll know That love can find another way to flow Than in seraphic channels : here's the soul That moves in friendship's ...
Page 336
... soul of mine , Pierce the gloom of sin and grief , Fill me , radiancy divine , Scatter all my unbelief , More and more thyself display , Shining to the perfect day . ( 1740 ) 225 In Temptation JESU , lover of my soul , Let me to thy ...
... soul of mine , Pierce the gloom of sin and grief , Fill me , radiancy divine , Scatter all my unbelief , More and more thyself display , Shining to the perfect day . ( 1740 ) 225 In Temptation JESU , lover of my soul , Let me to thy ...
Page 345
... soul ; My soul , which flies to Thee , her trust , her treasure , As misers to their gold , while others rest . Through this opaque of Nature , and of Soul , This double night , transmit one pitying ray , To lighten and to cheer . O ...
... soul ; My soul , which flies to Thee , her trust , her treasure , As misers to their gold , while others rest . Through this opaque of Nature , and of Soul , This double night , transmit one pitying ray , To lighten and to cheer . O ...
Contents
JOHN POMFRET 16671702 | 1 |
THOMAS DURFEY 16531723 | 5 |
JOHN PHILIPS 16761709 | 6 |
Copyright | |
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