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

“dead” 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.

pre-1500 1 / 28 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 0 / 9 1550s 0 / 89 1600s 0 / 176 1650s 1 / 57 1700s 1 / 34 1750s 3 / 161 1800s 26 / 683 1850s 47 / 938 1900s 41 / 1115 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Upon a Dead Man's Head
Available versions

Upon a Dead Man's Head

by John Skelton · English

John Skelton portrait

c. 1460 - 21 June 1529 (~69)

Ode Written in the Year 1746
Available versions

Ode Written in the Year 1746

by WIlliam Collins · English

WIlliam Collins portrait

25 December 1721 - 12 June 1759 (~38)

Crazy Sally!
Available versions

Crazy Sally!

by Amelia Alderson Opie · English

Amelia Alderson Opie portrait

12 November 1769 - 2 December 1853 (~84)

The Dead Beggar
Available versions

The Dead Beggar

by Charlotte Smith · English

Charlotte Smith portrait

4 May 1749 - 28 October 1806 (~57)

Break, Break, Break
Available versions

Break, Break, Break

by Alfred Lord Tennyson · English

Alfred Lord Tennyson portrait

6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892 (~83)

Thanatopsis
Available versions

Thanatopsis

by William Cullen Bryant · English

William Cullen Bryant portrait

3 November 1794 - 12 June 1878 (~84)

The Sleeper
Available versions

The Sleeper

by Edgar Allan Poe · English

Edgar Allan Poe portrait

19 January 1809 - 7 October 1849 (~40)

The Maid’s Lament
Available versions

The Maid’s Lament

by Walter Savage Landor · English

Walter Savage Landor portrait

30 January 1775 - 17 September 1864 (~89)

My days among the Dead are past
Available versions

My days among the Dead are past

by Robert Southey · English

Robert Southey portrait

12 August 1774 - 21 March 1843 (~69)

The Haunted House
Available versions

The Haunted House

by Felicia Dorothea Hemans · English

Felicia Dorothea Hemans portrait

25 September 1793 - 16 May 1835 (~42)

Now playing
-
-
0:00
0:00
Track 1

Poem Actions

Choose an action for this poem

Skip to main content