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 beauty nature 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 presence childhood lover sound earth past consciousness truth women dream flower irish garden mind rain summer lovers

“silence” across the centuries

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

pre-1500 0 / 28 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 0 / 9 1550s 0 / 89 1600s 1 / 176 1650s 2 / 57 1700s 0 / 34 1750s 1 / 162 1800s 13 / 683 1850s 19 / 939 1900s 34 / 1115 1950s 0 / 15

Poems in 1850s · 19 with this theme Show all eras

A Lament

Available versions

A Lament

by George Edward Woodberry · English

12 May 1855 - 2 January 1930 (~75)

A Sleepless Night

Available versions

A Sleepless Night

by Alfred Austin · English

30 May 1835 - 2 June 1913 (~78)

Clover

Available versions

Clover

by John Banister Tabb · English

22 March 1845 - 19 November 1909 (~64)

Could mortal lip divine

Available versions

Could mortal lip divine

by Emily Dickinson · English

10 December 1830 - 15 May 1886 (~56)

Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight

Available versions

Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight

by Rose Hartwick Thorpe · English

18 July 1850 - 19 July 1939 (~89)

Glee — The great storm is over

Available versions

Glee — The great storm is over

by Emily Dickinson · English

10 December 1830 - 15 May 1886 (~56)

Great streets of silence led away

Available versions

Great streets of silence led away

by Emily Dickinson · English

10 December 1830 - 15 May 1886 (~56)

In the Oratory

Available versions

In the Oratory

by Arthur Symons · English

28 February 1865 - 22 January 1945 (~80)

In Time of Mourning

Available versions

In Time of Mourning

by Algernon Charles Swinburne · English

5 April 1837 - 10 April 1909 (~72)

Mother Nature

Available versions

Mother Nature

by Emily Dickinson · English

10 December 1830 - 15 May 1886 (~56)

My Dream

Available versions

My Dream

by Christina Rossetti · English

5 December 1830 - 29 December 1894 (~64)

Nightingale and Cuckoo

Available versions

Nightingale and Cuckoo

by Alfred Austin · English

30 May 1835 - 2 June 1913 (~78)

Reticence

Available versions

Reticence

by Emily Dickinson · English

10 December 1830 - 15 May 1886 (~56)

Silences

Available versions

Silences

by Arthur O'Shaughnessy · English

14 March 1844 - 30 January 1881 (~37)

Stricken

Available versions

Stricken

by Philip Bourke Marston · English

13 August 1850 - 13 February 1887 (~37)

The Dead Child

Available versions

The Dead Child

by Ernest Dowson · English

2 August 1867 - 23 February 1900 (~33)

The Last Word

Available versions

The Last Word

by Matthew Arnold · English

24 December 1822 - 15 April 1888 (~66)

The Princess

Available versions

The Princess

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson · Norwegian

8 December 1832 - 26 April 1910 (~78)

The Valley of Silence

Available versions

The Valley of Silence

by Fiona Macleod · English

12 September 1855 - 12 December 1905 (~50)

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