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 dead loss body pain wind philosophical voice music landscape hope religious sorrow spring flowers children faith bird water rose mortality silence lover domestic presence childhood sound earth past consciousness truth women dream flower irish garden mind rain summer lovers

“lover” + clover, lovers 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.

pre-1500 1 / 29 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 2 / 10 1550s 7 / 89 1600s 25 / 176 1650s 6 / 57 1700s 1 / 34 1750s 5 / 163 1800s 14 / 684 1850s 26 / 940 1900s 31 / 1119 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Canzoniere 11

Available versions

Canzoniere 11

by Francesco Petrarca · Italian

1304 - 19 July 1374 (~70)

The Aged Lover Renounceth Love

Available versions

The Aged Lover Renounceth Love

by Thomas, Lord Vaux · English

25 April 1509 - c. October 1556 (~47)

Give Place, Ye Lovers

Available versions

Give Place, Ye Lovers

by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey · English

c. 1517 - 19 January 1547 (~30)

A Lover's Lullaby

Available versions

A Lover's Lullaby

by George Gascoigne · English

c. 1539 - 7 October 1577 (~38)

Come Away, Death

Available versions

Come Away, Death

by William Shakespeare · English

c. 23 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 (~52)

Only Joy, Now Here You Are

Available versions

Only Joy, Now Here You Are

by Sir Philip Sidney · English

30 November 1554 - 17 October 1586 (~32)

What Thing Is Love

Available versions

What Thing Is Love

by George Peele · English

c. 25 July 1556 - 9 November 1596 (~40)

Now peep, bo-peep

Available versions

Now peep, bo-peep

by Francis Pilkington · English

c. 1565 - 1638 (~73)

My Ladies presence makes the roses red

Available versions

My Ladies presence makes the roses red

by Henry Constable · English

1562 - October 1613 (~51)

The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest

Available versions

The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest

by Sir William Davenant · English

c. February 1606 - 7 April 1668 (~62)

The Paradox

Available versions

The Paradox

by John Donne · English

1572 - 31 March 1631 (~59)

To the Rose

Available versions

To the Rose

by Robert Herrick · English

24 August 1591 - 15 October 1674 (~83)

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