Theme Timeline

Pick a theme and see how often it shows up across 50-year cohorts of V2Melody poets. Bars are normalised so small cohorts don't get drowned out by large ones.

Choose a theme

— none — world life love death nature beauty self social beloved divine memory desire spiritual heart grief power romantic suffering woman light soul loss dead body pain wind philosophical voice music landscape hope religious sorrow spring children flowers faith bird water rose mortality silence domestic childhood presence sound past lover consciousness truth earth women dream flower irish garden rain summer mind lovers

“light” + enlightenment, delight, moonlight, flight across the centuries

Bar length = percentage of poems in that cohort whose critique surfaced any of these terms. Click an era to focus the poem list below (click again to show samples from all eras).

pre-1500 2 / 28 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 1 / 9 1550s 3 / 87 1600s 4 / 172 1650s 0 / 57 1700s 1 / 32 1750s 12 / 160 1800s 40 / 680 1850s 48 / 930 1900s 78 / 1109 1950s 0 / 15

Poems in 1750s · 12 with this theme Show all eras

Horace, Ode XI. Lib. I

Available versions

Horace, Ode XI. Lib. I

by Robert Fergusson · English

5 September 1750 - 16 October 1774 (~24)

Infant Joy

Available versions

Infant Joy

by William Blake · English

28 November 1757 - 12 August 1827 (~70)

My Pretty Rose Tree

Available versions

My Pretty Rose Tree

by William Blake · English

28 November 1757 - 12 August 1827 (~70)

On a Bed of Guernsey Lilies

Available versions

On a Bed of Guernsey Lilies

by Christopher Smart · English

11 April 1722 - 21 May 1770 (~48)

Sleep, sleep today, tormenting cares

Available versions

Sleep, sleep today, tormenting cares

by Anna Lætitia Barbauld · English

20 June 1743 - 9 March 1825 (~82)

Still in the Wrong

Available versions

Still in the Wrong

by John Skinner · English

3 October 1721 - 16 June 1807 (~86)

The Glow-Worm

Available versions

The Glow-Worm

by Charlotte Smith · English

4 May 1749 - 28 October 1806 (~57)

The Resignation

Available versions

The Resignation

by Thomas Chatterton · English

20 November 1752 - 24 August 1770 (~18)

The wretch condemn'd with life to part

Available versions

The wretch condemn'd with life to part

by Oliver Goldsmith · English

c. 10 November 1728 - 4 April 1774 (~46)

To the Butterfly

Available versions

To the Butterfly

by Samuel Rogers · English

30 July 1763 - 18 December 1855 (~92)

To the Muse

Available versions

To the Muse

by Charlotte Smith · English

4 May 1749 - 28 October 1806 (~57)

What Is Love?

Available versions

What Is Love?

by Thomas Paine · English

9 February 1737 - 8 June 1809 (~72)

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