Poems

A selection of poems notable for frequency of appearance, significance to their miscellany context, or meta-reflection on the subject of compiling a poetry book

Displaying 76–100 poems out of 184 total

Search for keywords within first line, transcription, description, or author name. For exact phrases, use quotation marks (e.g. “A knife dear girl”)

First Line Author Description Manuscripts
Indulgent God, whose bounteous Care Lemuel Abbott

Hymn [Devotional writing, religious belief].

Transcribed from Abbott, Lemuel. Poems on various subjects, 1765, pp. 35–36.  Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0111339060. 

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Indulgent Nature to each Kind bestows

Epigram [Nature].

Transcribed from "On the Burser of St. John's College, Oxon, cutting down a fine Row of Trees." British Journal, no. 188, 16 Apr. 1726, p. 3. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection, GALE|Z2000123685.

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Is not my measter here among you, pray? David Garrick

Prologue [Humour; Theatre, drama; Domestic life].

Transcribed from The court of Thespis; being a collection of the most admired prologues and epilogues that have appeared for many years; written by some of the most approved wits of the Age, viz. Garrick, Colman, Foote, Murphy, Lloyd, &c, 1769, pp. 53–55. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0110415340. 

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It must be done, my Soul; but 'tis a strange John Norris

[Devotional writing, religious belief; Death, afterlife].

Transcribed from Norris, Mr., "The Meditation." Divine hymns and poems on several occasions... 1704, pp. 137–139. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0110717926.

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Julia once struck me with a Ball of Snow Alexander Brome

Latin; Epigram [Love].

Transcribed from B., Mr. "Epigramma in Juliam... Translated into English." The grove; or, a collection of original poems, translations, &c.... 1721, p. 324. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0113219669.

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Let coward Guilt with pallid Fear Elizabeth Carter

Ode; Hymn [Nature; Conduct, morality; Devotional material, religious writing]. 

Transcribed from Carter, Elizabeth. "Written at Midnight in a Thunder Storm." Poems on several occasions, 1762, pp. 36–37. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CB0130752242.

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Like a Newton sublimely he soar'd Hannah Griffitts

Panegyric [Public Affairs; Celebrities]. 

Transcribed from Memoirs of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: with a review of his pamphlet, entitled "information to those who would wish to remove to America," 1790, pp. 23–24. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0103896572.

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Little Girl in swadling Cloaths

Imitation (of Ambrose Philips' "Little charm of placid mien"); Occasional [Family].

Transcribed from "On Miss Harvey, being a Day old. In Imitation of Mr. P—p's." Miscellanies in prose and verse... By John Hewitt, Gent., 1727, pp. 73–74. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0114392121.

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Lock'd in the arms of balmy sleep Elizabeth Amherst Thomas

Prayer; Lyric [Nature; Devotional writing, religious belief]; original.

Transcribed from Thomas, Elizabeth Amherst. "A Sacred Lyric, On being wak'd in the night of February 3d 1749, by a violent storm of Thunder and Lightning." The Christian's magazine, or A treasury of divine knowledge, vol. 1, 1760, pp. 437–438. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0125868993.

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Made to engage all hearts and charm all eyes George Lyttelton

Epitaph; Lyric [Love].

Epitaph for Lyttleton's first wife, Lucy Fortescue.

Transcribed from Lyttleton, George. "To the Memory of Lucy Lyttleton." London magazine: or, Gentleman's Monthy Intelligencer, June 1, 1747, p. 288. American Antiquarian Society, accession number 33351001. 

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Mistaken fair, lay Sherlock by Philip Dormer Stanhope

Occasional [Death, afterlife; Literature; Love]. 

Transcribed from "To a Lady on reading Sherlock upon Death." The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Monthly intelligencer, vol. 3, issue 29, May 1733, p. 263. British Periodicals, [ProQuest document ID:] 8364010.

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My Time, O ye Muses, was happily spent John Byrom

Pastoral [Love; Passions, sentiments].

Transcribed from The Spectator, vol. 8, 1715, pp. 259–262. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0113082792. 

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Nature, perversly to your wish, has given Thomas Hervey

Answer [Courtship, marriage; Women]. 

In response to (and usually preceded by) Arabella Morton's "I Ask not Wit, nor Beauty do I crave..." 

Transcribed from "Answer by T.H—, second Son to the E— of B—" The gentleman's miscellany, In Verse and Prose... ed. Sir Butterfly Maggot, 1730, p. 44. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0117223459.

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Near his paternal seat, here buried lies Sir Charles Hanbury Williams

Epitaph [Death, afterlife; Friendship; Visual arts].

Transcribed from Hanbury Williams, Sir Charles ."An Epitaph on the Late Right Hon. Thomas Winnington, Esq; By Sir C.H.W.," London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, vol. 19, December 1750, pp. 566. ProQuest, [ProQuest document ID:] 5349272.

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O Holkam! blest, belov'd abode! William Pulteney

Epistle [Satire—political].

Transcribed from Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath. An epistle from Lord L—l to Lord C—d. By Mr. P—, 1740. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0104921931.

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O thou, who labour'st in this rugged Mine Judith Cowper Madan

Panegyric [Celebrity].

Transcribed from "Written by a youthful Lady in a young Gentleman's (Mr. C—r's) Coke upon Littleton." The London Journal, vol. 253, May 1724, p. 3. British Periodicals, [ProQuest document ID:] 5775080. 

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Oft I've implor'd the gods in vain Frances Macartney Greville

Lyric [Passions, sentiments]. 

See also Countess Carlisle's Answer "Without preamble, to my friend..."

Transcribed from Mrs. G, "A Prayer for Indifference." The annual register... 1762, 1763, pp. 200–201. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0125074759.

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Oh be thou blest with all that Heav'n can send Alexander Pope

Occasional; Panegyric [Conduct, morality; Death, afterlife; Women].

Transcribed from Pope, Alexander, "The Wish. Sent to Mrs. M.B. on her Birth-Day, June 15." Miscellany Poems Vol. 1 Fifth Edition, 1726, p. 206. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0113316120. 

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Oh why dear Sister, Why dear Brother

Occasional (on spilling a bottle of ink) [Literature; Family]; original.

Transcribed from Beinecke Osborn d69, p. 159.

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Oh you who deign my Book peruse

Occasional (beginning of an mvm) [Literature]; original.

Transcribed from Beinecke Osborn d69.

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Oh, spotless paper, fair and white! Laetitia Lewen Pilkington

Occasional (on writing verses) [Literature; Family]. 

Transcribed from "A young Lady of 12 Years of age, having promised her Brother, who was making his Exercise to write him some Verses, if he would tell her what to write upon. What, replied he smartly, but upon Paper? Her Answer and Performance were in the following Lines." The Gentleman's Magazine: and historical chronicle, vol. 2, Nov. 1732, p. 1077. ProQuest, [ProQuest document ID:] 8306368.

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On you dear Jim, the ready muse Reverend M.G.R.

Epistle [Satire - Social; Women; Family; Education].

Transcribed from Folger M.a. 180, pp. 31–32.

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Painful source of many a sorrow! Helen Maria Williams

Ode [Death, afterlife]. 

Transcribed from Williams, H.M. "On the Word Last." The western country magazine, for the year... By a society of gentlement... vol. 5, 1789–1792, p. 27. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0124929652.

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Parent of virtue, if thine ear John Langhorne

Lyric [Passions, Sentiments].

Transcribed from Langhorne, John, "Hymn to Humanity." The Effusions of Friendship and Fancy. In Several Letters to and from Select Friends. ..., 1763, pp. 123–128. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0110645195.

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Poor melancholy bird—that all night long Charlotte Turner Smith

Sonnet [Animals, pets].

Transcribed from Smith, Charlotte Turner. "Sonnet III. To a Nightingale." Elegiac sonnets, 3rd. ed., 1786, p. 4. Eighteenth Century Collections Online, GALE|CW0114875362.

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