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

“flower” + lower, flowers 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 / 29 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 1 / 10 1550s 2 / 90 1600s 11 / 176 1650s 2 / 58 1700s 0 / 34 1750s 10 / 163 1800s 28 / 685 1850s 46 / 943 1900s 35 / 1120 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Time

Available versions

Time

by Sir Thomas More · English

7 February 1478 - 6 July 1535 (~57)

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Available versions

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

by Christopher Marlowe · English

26 February 1564 - 30 May 1593 (~29)

My Ladies presence makes the roses red

Available versions

My Ladies presence makes the roses red

by Henry Constable · English

1562 - October 1613 (~51)

To the Virgins, to make much of Time

Available versions

To the Virgins, to make much of Time

by Robert Herrick · English

24 August 1591 - 15 October 1674 (~83)

The Blossome

Available versions

The Blossome

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)

The Primrose

Available versions

The Primrose

by Robert Herrick · English

24 August 1591 - 15 October 1674 (~83)

A Rose

Available versions

A Rose

by Sir Richard Fanshawe · English

12 June 1608 - June 1666 (~58)

Fade, Flow'rs!

Available versions

Fade, Flow'rs!

by Edmund Waller · English

3 March 1606 - 21 October 1687 (~81)

A Drop of Dew

Available versions

A Drop of Dew

by Andrew Marvell · English

31 March 1621 - 16 August 1678 (~57)

Fading Beauty

Available versions

Fading Beauty

by Thomas Flatman · English

21 February 1635 - 8 December 1688 (~53)

Envy

Available versions

Envy

by Mary Lamb · English

3 December 1764 - 20 May 1847 (~83)

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