Themes: Disillusionment and Wisdom in Middle Age
Derek Walcott, ‘Nearing Forty’
Themes: The Pain of Heartbreak
James Joyce, ‘I Hear an Army’
Themes: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation
Elinor Morton Wylie, ‘Now Let No Charitable Hope’
Themes: Learning-Understanding-Art-Excellence
Alexander Pope, ‘From An Essay on Criticism’
Themes: The Unlived Life
Charlotte Mew, ‘Rooms’
Themes: Infidelity and Honour
Elizabeth Thomas (‘Corinna’), ‘The Forsaken Wife’
Themes: Love- Acceptance of Death
Mary Monck (‘Marinda’), ‘Verses Written on Her Death-bed at Bath to Her Husband in London’
Idealism vs Disillusionment
A R D Fairburn, ‘Rhyme of the Dead Self’
Theme: Virtue
"The Character of a Happy Life" Wotton
Themes: The Pain of Unrequited Love
Algernon Charles Swinburne, ‘A Leave-Taking’
Themes: Isolation, Despair, and the Solace of Nature
Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples’
Themes: The Joy and Pain of Love
Sir Thomas Wyatt, ‘I Find No Peace’
Themes: Love, Loss, and Grief
Philip Bourke Marston, ‘After’
Themes:Time, Aging, and Love
Lauris Edmond, ‘Waterfall’
Themes: Unrequited Love and Fate
Robert Browning, ‘Love in a Life’