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 water bird rose mortality silence lover domestic presence childhood sound earth past consciousness truth women dream flower irish garden mind eyes rain summer

“roman” + romantic 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 / 30 BCE 4 / 12 1500s 0 / 10 1550s 1 / 90 1600s 2 / 176 1650s 3 / 59 1700s 0 / 35 1750s 26 / 163 1800s 116 / 686 1850s 13 / 945 1900s 19 / 1123 1950s 1 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Animula vagula blandula

Available versions

Animula vagula blandula

by Publius Aelius Hadrianus · Latin

24 January 76 - 10 July 138 (~62)

Odi et amo

Available versions

Odi et amo

by Gaius Valerius Catullus · Latin

c. 84 BC - c. 54 BC (~30)

Ode IV.1

Available versions

Ode IV.1

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus · Latin

8 December 65 BC - 27 November 8 BC (~38)

Ode II.11

Available versions

Ode II.11

by Quintus Horatius Flaccus · Latin

8 December 65 BC - 27 November 8 BC (~38)

The Steady Fire

Available versions

The Steady Fire

by Albius Tibullus · Latin

c. 55 BC - 19 BC (~36)

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)

The Invitation

Available versions

The Invitation

by Robert Herrick · English

24 August 1591 - 15 October 1674 (~83)

Now fie on foolish love

Available versions

Now fie on foolish love

by Francis Beaumont · English

1584 - 6 March 1616 (~32)

The Match

Available versions

The Match

by Andrew Marvell · English

31 March 1621 - 16 August 1678 (~57)

Against Indifference

Available versions

Against Indifference

by Charles Webbe · English

c. 1650 - c. 1680 (~30)

The Enchantment

Available versions

The Enchantment

by Thomas Otway · English

3 March 1652 - 14 April 1685 (~33)

A Wish

Available versions

A Wish

by Samuel Rogers · English

30 July 1763 - 18 December 1855 (~92)

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