Poem Timeline
Musicalized poems placed on 50-year eras by their poet’s approximate writing years. Bar length is poem count; color leans dark or bright with average emotional tone.
Eras use a writing-age proxy (about age thirty), not known composition dates. Tone comes from interpretive emotion profiles.
3,361 poems in view .
Filters
Poems across eras
Poems in pre-1500 · 30
Animula vagula blandula
Publius Aelius Hadrianus
Contemplative melancholy
Caedmon's Hymn
Caedmon
Spiritual reverence
Bede’s Death Song
Bede the Venerable
Spiritual contemplation
Chun Xiao
Meng Haoran
Serene reflection
Lu Chai
Wang Wei
Serene contemplation
Quiet Night Thoughts
Li Bai
Melancholic longing
Chun Wang
Du Fu
Sorrowful reflection
Song Cui Jiu
Pei Di
Reflective tranquility
Let Us Drink!
Abu Nuwas
Sensual revelry
The Song of Ch'ŏyong
Ch'ŏyong
Bittersweet contemplation
Jin Se
Li Shangyin
Melancholic reflection
The Wife's Lament
Ealhswith of Mercia
Profound sorrow
O vis eternitatis
Hildegard of Bingen
Spiritual reverence
Come, Come, Whoever You Are
Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī
Inviting spirituality
O friend, accept me and take my life
Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī
Spiritual longing
Tanto gentile, e tanto onesta pare
Dante Alighieri
Tender admiration
Sumer is icumen in
W. de Wycombe
Joyful celebration of spring
Praise of Women
Robert Mannyng of Brunne
Celebratory admiration
Canzoniere 11
Francesco Petrarca
Longing tenderness
Canzoniere 61
Francesco Petrarca
Reverent longing
Freedom
John Barbour
Reflective yearning
Piers the Plowman
William Langland
Spiritual reflection
General Prologue - Opening
Geoffrey Chaucer
Joyful anticipation
Merciles Beaute
Geoffrey Chaucer
Tragic yearning
Lament for Chaucer
Thomas Hoccleve
Profound sorrow
Vox ultima Crucis
John Lydgate
Spiritual reflection
Spring Song of the Birds
King James I of Scotland
Joyful awakening
The Prais of Aige
Robert Henryson
Reflective acceptance
To a Lady
William Dunbar
Tender longing
Upon a Dead Man's Head
John Skelton
Somber reflection