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

“presence” 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 1 / 89 1600s 2 / 176 1650s 1 / 57 1700s 0 / 34 1750s 0 / 161 1800s 16 / 683 1850s 18 / 938 1900s 26 / 1115 1950s 0 / 15

Sample poems · click an era above to focus

Tanto gentile, e tanto onesta pare
Available versions

Tanto gentile, e tanto onesta pare

by Dante Alighieri · Italian

Dante Alighieri portrait

c. May 1265 - 14 September 1321 (~56)

My Ladies presence makes the roses red
Available versions

My Ladies presence makes the roses red

by Henry Constable · English

Henry Constable portrait

1562 - October 1613 (~51)

The Dreame
Available versions

The Dreame

by John Donne · English

John Donne portrait

1572 - 31 March 1631 (~59)

My Picture
Available versions

My Picture

by Abraham Cowley · English

Abraham Cowley portrait

1618 - 28 July 1667 (~49)

On her Loving Two Equally
Available versions

On her Loving Two Equally

by Aphra Behn · English

Aphra Behn portrait

1640 - 16 April 1689 (~49)

To Night
Available versions

To Night

by Percy Bysshe Shelley · English

Percy Bysshe Shelley portrait

4 August 1792 - 8 July 1822 (~30)

Song of Myself, 51
Available versions

Song of Myself, 51

by Walt Whitman · English

Walt Whitman portrait

31 May 1819 - 26 March 1892 (~73)

Go where glory waits thee
Available versions

Go where glory waits thee

by Thomas Moore · English

Thomas Moore portrait

28 May 1779 - 25 February 1852 (~73)

Silence
Available versions

Silence

by Thomas Hood · English

Thomas Hood portrait

23 May 1799 - 3 May 1845 (~46)

The Lover
Available versions

The Lover

by Walter Savage Landor · English

Walter Savage Landor portrait

30 January 1775 - 17 September 1864 (~89)

Destiny
Available versions

Destiny

by Ralph Waldo Emerson · English

Ralph Waldo Emerson portrait

25 May 1803 - 27 April 1882 (~79)

The Phantom
Available versions

The Phantom

by Thomas Hardy · English

Thomas Hardy portrait

2 June 1840 - 11 January 1928 (~88)

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