The Poets of the 18th Century - Volume 2: Volume II – John Cunningham to Amelia Opie

By Thomas Gray, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Amelia Opie

For many in Europe the focus has shifted West to the Americas both by settlement and by war against the indigenous tribes and then between themselves. Democracy would be re-born by the American War of Independence.

In the East, India becomes the stage for further expansion.

For our wordsmiths the world had become a wider page on which to write their thoughts.

Coleridge, Pope, Southey, Wordsworth speak with lyrical eloquence upon subjects great and small but always from the heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portable Poetry
• Release date: Dec 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781835470442

Book preview

The Poets of the Eighteenth Century

Volume II – John Cunningham to Amelia Opie

For many in Europe the focus has shifted West to the Americas both by settlement and by war against the indigenous tribes and then between themselves.  Democracy would be re-born by the American War of Independence. 

In the East, India becomes the stage for further expansion. 

For our wordsmiths the world had become a wider page on which to write their thoughts. 

Coleridge, Pope, Southey, Wordsworth speak with lyrical eloquence upon subjects great and small but always from the heart.

Index of Contents

An Elegy on a Pile of Ruins by John Cunningham

Grongar Hill by John Dyer

A Letter to Sir Robert Walpole by Henry Fielding

A Pipe of Tobacco by Henry Fielding

from Auld Reikie by Robert Fergusson

The Great Panjandrum by Samuel Foote

A Political Litany by Philip Freneau

To the Memory of the Americans Who Fell at Eutaw by Philip Freneau

The Wild Honey Suckle by Philip Freneau

Hearts of Oak by David Garrick

Shakespeare by Thomas Gent

The Erl-King by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

May Song by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The First Walpurgis Night (An Extract) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Village (An extract) by Oliver Goldsmith

Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray

Ode on The Spring by Thomas Gray

There's An Open Door by Ann Griffiths

Expecting The Lord by Ann Griffiths

An Evening Thought by Jupiter Hammon

McLean's Welcome by James Hogg

My Serious Son by Walter Savage Landor

Shakespeare and Milton by Walter Savage Landor

An Epistle to a Lady by Mary Leapor

Mira's Will by Mary Leapor

The Funeral Hymn by David Mallet

Constantinople by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Written At Lovere, October 1736 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Angels From the Realms of Glory by James Montgomery

I Saw From The Beach by Thomas Moore

Erin Oh Erin by Thomas Moore

Has Sorrow Thy Young Days Shaded by Thomas Moore

Come O'er The Sea by Thomas Moore

The Slave Trade. A Poem by Hannah More

Secret Love, 1795 by Amelia Opie

Ode On The Present Time, 27th January 1795 by Amelia Opie

THE POETS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Volume II – John Cunningham to Amelia Opie

An Elegy on a Pile of Ruins by John Cunningham

I.

In the full prospect yonder hill commands,

O'er forests, fields, and vernal-coated plains;

The vestige of an ancient abbey stands,

Close by a ruin'd castle's rude remains.

II.

Half buried, there, lie many a broken bust,

And obelisk, and urn, o'erthrown by TIME;

And many a cherub, here, descends in dust

From the rent roof, and portico sublime.

III.

The rivulets, oft frighted at the sound

Of fragments, tumbling from the tow'rs on high;

Plunge to their source in secret caves profound,

Leaving their banks and pebbly bottoms dry.

IV.

Where rev'rend shrines in Gothic grandeur stood,

The nettle, or the noxious night-shade, spreads;

And ashlings, wafted from the neighb'ring wood,

Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.

V.

There Contemplation, to the crowd unknown,

Her attitude compos'd, and aspect sweet!

Sits musing on a monumental stone,

And points to the MEMENTO at her feet.

VI.

Soon as sage ev'ning check'd day's sunny pride,

I left the mantling shade, in moral mood;

And seated by the maid's sequester'd side,

Thus sigh'd, the mould'ring ruins as I view'd.

VII.

Inexorably calm, with silent pace

Here TIME has pass'd—What ruin marks his way!

This pile, now crumbling o'er its hallow'd base,

Turn'd not his step, nor could his course delay.

VIII.

Religion rais'd her supplicating eyes

In vain; and Melody, her song sublime:

In vain, Philosophy, with maxims wise,

Would touch the cold unfeeling heart of TIME.

IX.

Yet the hoar tyrant, tho' not mov'd to spare,

Relented when he struck its finish'd pride;

And partly the rude ravage to repair,

The tott'ring tow'rs with twisted Ivy tied.

X.

How solemn is the cell o'ergrown with moss,

That terminates the view, yon cloister'd way!

In the crush'd wall, a time-corroded cross,

Religion like, stands mould'ring in decay!

XI.

Where the mild sun, through saint-encypher'd glass,

Illum'd with mellow light that brown-brow'd isle;

Many rapt hours might Meditation pass,

Slow moving 'twixt the pillars of the pile!

XII.

And Piety, with mystic-meaning beads,

Bowing to saints on ev'ry side inurn'd,

Trod oft the solitary path, that leads

Where, now, the sacred altar lies o'erturn'd!

XIII.

Through the grey grove, between those with'ring