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 eyes

“eyes” 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 / 30 BCE 0 / 12 1500s 1 / 10 1550s 5 / 90 1600s 5 / 176 1650s 4 / 59 1700s 0 / 34 1750s 1 / 163 1800s 5 / 685 1850s 6 / 944 1900s 24 / 1120 1950s 1 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Canzoniere 11
Available versions

Canzoniere 11

by Francesco Petrarca · Italian

Francesco Petrarca portrait

1304 - 19 July 1374 (~70)

Your Looks so Often Cast
Available versions

Your Looks so Often Cast

by Sir Thomas Wyatt · English

Sir Thomas Wyatt portrait

c. 1503 - 11 October 1542 (~39)

A Lover's Lullaby
Available versions

A Lover's Lullaby

by George Gascoigne · English

George Gascoigne portrait

c. 1539 - 7 October 1577 (~38)

Fayre eyes
Available versions

Fayre eyes

by Edmund Spenser · English

Edmund Spenser portrait

c. 1552 - 13 January 1599 (~47)

What Thing Is Love
Available versions

What Thing Is Love

by George Peele · English

George Peele portrait

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

Now peep, bo-peep
Available versions

Now peep, bo-peep

by Francis Pilkington · English

Francis Pilkington portrait

c. 1565 - 1638 (~73)

Address to the Sun
Available versions

Address to the Sun

by Alexander Montgomerie · English

Alexander Montgomerie portrait

c. 1545 - August 1598 (~53)

The Cherry
Available versions

The Cherry

by Richard Allison · English

Richard Allison portrait

c. 1570 - c. 1615 (~45)

The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest
Available versions

The lark now leaves his wat'ry nest

by Sir William Davenant · English

Sir William Davenant portrait

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

The Message
Available versions

The Message

by John Donne · English

John Donne portrait

1572 - 31 March 1631 (~59)

Weep, O mine eyes
Available versions

Weep, O mine eyes

by John Bennet · English

John Bennet portrait

c. 1575 - c. 1614 (~39)

Weep, weep, mine eyes
Available versions

Weep, weep, mine eyes

by John Wilbye · English

John Wilbye portrait

7 March 1574 - September 1638 (~64)

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