Union First Line Index of English Verse

13th-19th Century (bulk 1500-1800)


Information
 
Search
 
108 Records Found
First Line Author Title Last Line Library Shelfmark Folio  
 
'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won,  Dryden, John, 1631_1700  `Alexander's feast'  She drew an angel down.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 133 
'Twas in the glad season of spring,  Cowper, William, 1731_1800  `The morning dream; on the same subject [the Negro's complaint]'  Resolves to have none of her own.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 215 
Adieu! Sweet bard! To each fine feeling true,  Woty, William, 1731?_1791  `Epitaph on Dr. Goldsmith'  Depart in peace, and imitate the man!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 121 
And hast thou, then, in the gay spring of life,  Parsons, William, fl. 1785_1807  `Verses to a friend; ere his resigning a place under the government, and with it all hopes of future promotion, to enjoy the sweets of private life, and independency...1779'  With modest independency to dwell.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 180 
As when some beauteous nymph with virgin shame    `On the snow drop'  A train of beauteous colors ere it die.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 79 
At length escap'd from every human eye,  Lyttelton, George Lyttelton, 1st baron, 1709_1784  `A monody to the memory of Lady Lucy Lyttelton'  There yield up all his power e'er to divide you more.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 193 
Away, let naught to love displeasing    `A song'  And I go wooing in my boys.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 175 
Beauty complete and majesty divine,      And languish for terrestrial charms no more.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 46 
Beneath this tomb, in sacred sleep,  Burke, Edmund, 1729_1797  `Epitaph on Sir Joshua Reynolds'  A good man never dies.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 221 
Come, lovely gentle peace of mind,    `To peace...Bombay 1774'  The pledge of heaven, shall make me blest.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 93 
Come roseate health, my temples bind    `Wisdom and health...Anjengo, 1772'  Death snatch my soul away.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 81 
Come shepherds, we'll follow the hearse,  Cunningham, John, 1729_1773  `Corydon, a pastoral, to the memory of Shenstone'  And thus__let me break it in twain.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 191 
Condemn'd to hope's delusive mine,  Johnson, Samuel, 1709_1784  `On the death of Mr. Robert Levet; a practicer in physic. By his intimate friend...'  And freed his soul the nearest way.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 204 
Cupid and my Campaspe play'd  Lyly, John  `Cupid and Campaspe__an elegant little sonnet; written...in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1591'  What shall, alas, become of me?  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 188 
Daughter of Jove, relentless power,  Gray, Thomas, 1716_1771  `Hymn to adversity'  What others are, to feel, and know myself a man.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 147 
Dear Chloe, while the busy crowd,  Cotton, Nathaniel, 1705_1788  `The fireside'  And smooth the bed of death.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 171 
Descend, ye Nine! Descend and sing  Pope, Alexander, 1688_1744  `Ode on St. Cecelia's Day'  Hers lifts the soul to heav'n.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 133 
Down to the vale of life I tend,    `An old bachelor's reflection on matrimony'  And make them happy in their state.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 122 
European vain, mock not my hue    `Epitaph on a Negro servant'  And death a tyrant then.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 177 
Father of all! In ev'ry age,  Pope, Alexander, 1688_1744  `The universal prayer'  All nature's incense rise!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 129 
Fond atheist! Could a giddy dance    `The mechanism of the human body'  And hung it in the skies.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 225 
Forc'd from home, and all its pleasures,  Cowper, William, 1731_1800  `The Negro's complaint'  Ere you proudly question ours.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 213 
Friendship, peculiar boon of heaven,  Johnson, Samuel, 1709_1784  `Friendship'  Shall aid our happiness above!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 203 
From public noise, and factious strife  Prior, Matthew, 1644_1721  `Lines by Prior'  Mayst thou be false, and I be great.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 190 
Go happy veil, possess, but not enjoy    `To a young lady, with a present of a net handkerchief'  And Celia crowns it with a bridal kiss.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 47 
Go, tuneful bird, that glad'st the skies,  Shenstone, William, 1714_1763  `The skylark'  Who sings her praise, and sings forlorn.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 162 
Great nature, then, thro' all her diff'rent works,  Rowe, Elizabeth (Singer), 1674_1737  `And time shall be no more'  Eternal glories, and enchanting beauties!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 80 
Hail, artless simplicity, beautiful maid,  More, Hannah, 1745_1833  `To simplicity'  When without it we purchase both pleasure and health.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 118 
Hail happy bride! For thou art truly blest,  Montagu, Lady Mary (Wortley), 1689_1762  `Elegy on a young married lady'  With fellow angels you enjoy it now.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 121 
Have angels sinn'd, and shall not man beware?    `Watch__'  His joys are joys of conquest, not of peace.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 166 
He that loves a rosy cheek,  Carew, Thomas, 1595_1639  `Unfading beauty'  Lovely cheeks, or lips, or eyes.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 189 
Health to my friend, and long unbroken years,  Barbauld, Anna Laetitia (Aikin), 1743_1825  `The invitation; to a young lady'  And hides her head in the green lap of spring.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 109 
Here sleeps what once was beauty, once was grace;  Mason, William, 1724_1797  `On the honorable Miss Drummond'  The Christian yields an angel to his God.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 186 
Here, to man's honor and to man's disgrace,    `An epitaph on that extraordinary character, John Elwes esqre of Berkshire'  Were God not mercy, when his creature's dust.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 222 
How are thy servants blest, O Lord!  Addison, Joseph, 1673_1719  `An ode made by a gentleman at the conclusion of his travels'  And join my soul to thee.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 39 
I envy not the proud their wealth,  Pilkington, Laetitia  `An ode'  May I that life resign.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 24 (incomplete?) 
In bed we laugh, in bed we cry,  Johnson, Samuel, 1709_1784  `On a bed, improviso translation from the French, by...'  Of human bliss to human woe.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 205 
Let coward guilt with pallid fear,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `Written at midnight in a thunder-storm'  Of everlasting day.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 11 
Make the extended skies your tomb,    `The Christian's wish'  Greatly triumphant live.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 24 
Mark how, ere eve, the morning honors fade!    `Epitaph on a young lady'  And life beginning teems with seeds of death!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 166 
Mneme, begin; inspire, ye sacred Nine!  Wheatley, Phyllis, 1753_1784  `Recollection__a poem__wrote by...at Boston, an African Negro, who did not leave her own country until she was ten years of age__and wrote this at eighteen'  Improve the refuge from the wrath divine.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 178 
My golden locks time hath to silver turn'd,  Lea, Sir Henry  `The following verses were wrote by...the brave ancestor of the present Lichfield family...' [1590]  To be your bedesman now, that was your knight!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 120 
My son, th'instruction that my words impart,    `Bombay 1769' [Proverbs, ch. 7]  And fall, where many mightier have been slain.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 45 
Now had the son of Jove mature, attain'd  Lowth, Robert, 1710_1787  `The choice of Hercules'  Crown'd with eternal youth: among the gods, a god.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 14 
O'er moorlands and mountains, rude, barren and bare,  Cunningham, John, 1729_1773  `Content__a pastoral'  And shepherds have nam'd her Content.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 96 
O'er the vine-cover'd hills, and gay regions of France,    `A song on the French revolution. 1791'  May he bind the decree on his heart!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 217 
Oft I've implor'd the gods in vain,  Greville, Frances (Macartney)  `Indifference__an admired poem'  Unknown to mortal tread!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 94 
O! Be thou blest with all that heaven can send;  Pope, Alexander, 1688_1744  `To a lady on her birthday'  And be thy latest gasp a sigh of love!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 79 
O, fortune! How thy restless wavering state  Elizabeth I, queen of England, 1533_1603  `Verses...when a prisoner at Woodstock in 1555'  So God send to my foes all they have thought.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 188 
O, friend of humankind, benignant sage,  Aikin, John, 1747_1822  `Lines by...subscribed on a stone, in the garden of Mr. White; near the plant named by Linnaeus, Fothergalia. To the memory of John Fothergill, M. D. F. R. S.'  As musing mid thy favorite plants he roves.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 210 
O happiness, celestial fair,  More, Hannah, 1745_1833  `To happiness'  And there forever reigns!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 119 
O! hear a pensive captive's prayer,  Barbauld, Anna Laetitia Aikin, 1743_1825  `The mouse's petition found in the trap, where he had been confined all night'  And break the hidden snare.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 113 
O memory! Celestial maid!  Shenstone, William, 1714_1763  `Ode to memory'  But ah! For pleasure yields us pain.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 160 
O thou, the nymph with placid eye!  Barbauld, Anna Laetitia (Aikin), 1743_1825  `Ode to content'  Low whisp'ring thro' the shades.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 115 
O you that bathe in earthly bliss,    `An inscription at the Leasowes'  From which these peaceful glens are free.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 179 
Pity the sorrow of a poor old man!    `The beggar'  Oh! Give relief__and heav'n will bless your stores!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 102 
Rethink, ye heedless youths, in time      And joys that ever last.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 28 
Riches chance may take or give,    `The retrospect of life, or the one thing needful'  And beauty, mirth, and pleasure fail.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 23 
Say, gentle youth, that tread'st, untouch'd with care,    `The hermit's address to youth__written in the gardens of the Vauxhall at Bath'  Earth's flatt'ring dainties prove but sweet distress.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 101 
Say, will no white-rob'd son of light  Mason, William, 1725_1797  `Ode to truth'  Thus the Almighty spake; he spake and call'd me Truth.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 151 
Soldier, so tender of thy prince's fame,  Byrom, John, 1692_1763  `Spoken extempore by Dr. B___ to a gentleman of the army, on the latter's swearing much'  But for the King of King's sake, do not swear.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 81 (attr. Dr. B.); see also `Oh! that the museà'. 
Stay traveller; and tho' within,  Merrick, James, 1720_1769  `Wrote by a traveller on the window of a thatched cot'  Has fixt her mansions there.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 25; see also`Stay passengerà', `Stop travellerà'. 
Still may this morn with fairest luster rise,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `To a lady on her birthday'  And point it to that heav'n from whence it came.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 5 
Still to be neat, still to be drest,  Jonson, Ben, 1573_1637  `The sweet neglect__written in 1609'  They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 189 
Stranger! Behold this little beechen grove!    `Verses on the planting of five trees, on an eminence at Barrington Castle, in Herefordshire; the seat of the right honorable Thomas Harley__1st November 1775'  And the Five Happy Sisters be their name.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 219 
Sweet bud, whose forward bloom displays,    `The rosebud. To a young lady;__descriptive of herself'  Shall bow in homage to its queen.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 163 
Sweet object of the zephyr's kiss,  Cunningham, John, 1729_1773  `The withered rose. The last composition...written a little before his death; as a true image of himself'  What is he but a wither'd rose?  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 116 
Sweet solitude, thou placid queen,  More, Hannah, 1745_1833  `To solitude'  And angels point the way to peace.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 117 
Sweet solitude! When life's gay hours are past,  Tickell, Thomas  `Soliloquies from Rowe's letters' [from On the prospect of peace]  Trust future ages, and contented die.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 80 
Take, holy earth! All that my soul holds dear:  Mason, William, 1724_1797  `Epitaph on Mrs. Mason'  And bids the pure in heart behold their God.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 186 
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day  Gray, Thomas, 1716_1771  `An elegy written in a country churchyard'  The bosom of his father and his God.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 30 
The diamond's and the ruby's blaze  Fordyce, [ ]  `Real beauty'  More beauteous than the ruby seems.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 106 
The hour must come, the last important hour;  Rowe, Elizabeth (Singer), 1674_1737  `On death'  And sing salvation to the lamb forever.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 29 
The Lord my pasture shall prepare,  Addison, Joseph, 1673_1719  `Psalm 23'  And streams shall murmur all around.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 42 
The midnight clock has toll'd; and hark, the bell  Mason, William, 1724_1797  `An elegy, on the death of a lady'  Shall be by all or suffer'd or enjoy'd.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 83 
The midnight moon serenely smiles,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806    The music of the mind.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 12 
The spacious firmament on high,  Addison, Joseph, 1673_1719  `An ode'  The hand that made thee is divine.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 43 
This bubbling stream not uninstructive flows,  Graves, Richard  `Written under an hourglass, in a grotto near the side of a river'  Who lets one precious moment run to waste.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 166; see also `This babbling streamà'. 
Thou pow'r supreme! By whose command I live,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `Wrote on her birthday'  And take my soul expiring to thy arms.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 3 
Thou restless fluctuating deep,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `Written extempore on the sea shore'  Shall fade beneath the gloom of spleen.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 10 
Thou ruler of the sky, almighty name  Rowe, Elizabeth (Singer), 1674_1737    Conscious how impotent she is without Thee.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 81 
Thou who dost all my worldly thoughts employ,  Monck, Mary (Molesworth), c. 1678_1715  `Verses, written by a lady at Bath; and sent to her husband a few days before she died'  And die, as I have liv'd, thy faithful wife.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 165 
Tho' sorrowing friends deplore the stroke, that gave    `Epitaph on a young lady, age 17.__copied from her monument, at Mr. Bacon's'  The fruit will ripen in eternity.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 210 
Three sisters, of one heavenly parent born,    `Faith, hope, and charity'  Approv'd, distingish'd, near th'eternal throne!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 164 
Thrice had the circling earth, swift pacing, run,  Melmoth, William  `To Cleora, on her wedding day' [from The letters of Sir Thomas Fitzosborne (Letter XXV)]  Worthy, sacred Hymen! Thee.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 92 
Thrice happy warblers, destin'd to the care    `Written extempore by a gentleman on board the Revenge, in Anjengo Road, and sent to Mrs. W___ with some feathered prisoners from the French prize'  Be you convey'd, and chant his grateful tale.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 82 
Tomorrow, didst thou say!  Cotton, Nathaniel, 1705_1788  `Tomorrow'  Hold the fleet angel fast, until he bless thee.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 171 
Too plain, dear youth, these telltale eyes  Jenyns, Soame,1704_1787  `A song'  To fight with love and you.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 174 
True wit is like the brilliant stone,  Newcomb, Thomas  `An epigram on wit'  And sparkles while it wounds.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 47 
Unhappy daughter of distress and woes!    `Elegy on a young woman, found dead in St. George's Fields'  And weeping pity pays her debt to thee!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 211 
Unlike the triflers whose contracted view  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `On a watch'  Th'applause of angels, not the gaze of fools.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 8 
Virtue alone has that to give    `The contrast'  And if we die, 'tis endless sorrow!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 95 
What are the falling rills, the pendant shades,  Pope, Alexander, 1688_1744  `Solitude'  Inly he bleeds, and pants his soul away.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 79 
When all thy mercies, O my God,  Addison, Joseph, 1673_1719    To utter all thy praise.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 37 
When life's tempestuous storms are o'er,    `The dying saint...Bombay 1777'  To him from whence I rose.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 97 
When my breast labors with oppressive care,  Thomson, James, 1700_1748  `A paraphrase on part of the sixth chapter of St. Matthew'  Is he unwise? Or are you less than they?  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 1 
When rising from the bed of death,  Addison, Joseph, 1673_1719    To make her pardon sure.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 41 
While night in solemn shade invests the pole,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  [1796]  The op'ning splendors of eternal day.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 7 
While this gay toy attracts thy sight,  Carter, Elizabeth, 1717_1806  `On a watch addressed to a young lady'  Secures an age in heav'n.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 2 
Whoe'er like me, with boding anguish, brings  Hawkesworth, Dr. [ ]  `Epitaph on Mrs. Hawkesworth'  And not to earth resign'd her__but to God!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 202 (attr. [ ] Hawkesworth) 
Whoe'er thou art, with rev'rence tread    `On an urn erected to the memory of William Shenstone esqr. In Hales-Owen churchyard'  For, know, thy Shenstone's dust lies here!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 103 
Why hang thy hopes on beauty's fading flower,  Giles, [ ]  `To a gentleman, captivated with the exterior charms of a young lady'  And waste their luster in the silent tomb.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 139 
Why mourns my friend! Why weeps his downcast eye?  Shenstone, William, 1714_1763  `An elegy, describing the melancholy event of a licentious amour'  From Jessy floating on her wat'ry bier!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 98 
Why steals from my bosom the sigh?  Mackenzie, Henry, 1745_1831  `Lavinia. A pastoral__from The man of feeling'  The thought of her Colin pursue.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 167 
Ye distant spires, ye antique towers,  Gray, Thomas, 1716_1771  `Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College' [pr. 1747 (Foxon G254)]  'Tis folly to be wise.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 148 
Ye nymphs of Solyma! Begin the song,  Pope, Alexander, 1688_1744  `Messiah. A sacred eclogue: written in imitation of Virgil's Pollio' [in the fourth eclogue]  Thy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 34 
Ye shepherds so cheerful and gay,  Shenstone, William, 1714_1763  `A pastoral ballad, in four parts'  Was faithless, and I am undone!  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 153 
Ye sons of elegance, who truly taste  Mason, William, 1725_1797  `Epitaph on Mr. Lancelot Brown; the celebrated landscape gardener'  And weep the Christian, husband, father, friend.  Yale  fc.132/1  p. 212