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 music voice 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

“rain” + constraints, train, grain, restraint 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 0 / 30 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 0 / 10 1550s 2 / 90 1600s 0 / 176 1650s 0 / 58 1700s 2 / 34 1750s 2 / 163 1800s 10 / 685 1850s 12 / 943 1900s 43 / 1120 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

The Wind and the Rain

Available versions

The Wind and the Rain

by William Shakespeare · English

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

The Lowest Trees Have Tops

Available versions

The Lowest Trees Have Tops

by Sir Edward Dyer · English

c. October 1543 - 11 May 1607 (~64)

Spring Rain

Available versions

Spring Rain

by Yosa Buson · Japanese

1716 - 17 January 1784 (~68)

On the Death of a Particular Friend

Available versions

On the Death of a Particular Friend

by James Thomson · English

c. 11 September 1700 - 27 August 1748 (~48)

O tell na me o' wind and rain

Available versions

O tell na me o' wind and rain

by Robert Burns · English

25 January 1759 - 21 July 1796 (~37)

John Barleycorn

Available versions

John Barleycorn

by Robert Burns · English

25 January 1759 - 21 July 1796 (~37)

Mild the mist upon the hill

Available versions

Mild the mist upon the hill

by Emily Brontë · English

30 July 1818 - 19 December 1848 (~30)

Life

Available versions

Life

by Charlotte Brontë · English

21 April 1816 - 31 March 1855 (~39)

The Rainbow

Available versions

The Rainbow

by Charlotte Richardson · English

5 March 1775 - 26 September 1825 (~50)

The Cloud

Available versions

The Cloud

by Percy Bysshe Shelley · English

4 August 1792 - 8 July 1822 (~30)

The Rainy Day

Available versions

The Rainy Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · English

27 February 1807 - 24 March 1882 (~75)

The Mother's Call

Available versions

The Mother's Call

by Allan Cunningham · English

7 December 1784 - 30 October 1842 (~58)

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