In "The Sot-weed Factor: or, A Voyage to Maryland. A Satyr," Ebenezer Cooke offers a rich and satirical exploration of 17th-century colonial life in Maryland through the lens of a hapless, yet humorous protagonist. Cooke's verse reflects the poetic traditions of Restoration England, interweaving sharp satire and vivid depictions of the landscape and local customs. His use of the mock-epic style not only entertains but also critiques the excesses and follies of colonial desire and ambition,...

The Sot-weed Factor: or, A Voyage to Maryland. A Satyr is a brisk, mock-heroic verse narrative that follows an English tobacco merchant—or "sot-weed factor"—through a humiliating encounter with colonial Maryland. Written in Hudibrastic couplets, its comic roughness, legal farce, and grotesque portraits place it within the Restoration and early eighteenth-century tradition of satirical travel writing. Beneath its burlesque surface, the poem offers a revealing, if highly prejudiced, vision o...

In "The Sot-weed Factor: or, A Voyage to Maryland. A Satyr," Ebenezer Cooke delivers a sharp satirical narrative that explores the complexities of colonial America through the lens of the protagonist, Eben Cooke, a naïve yet ambitious young man journeying to Maryland to seek his fortune as a tobacco planter. Cooke's literary style marries keen observation with a sophisticated wit, employing a blend of verse and prose that reflects the cultural tensions of the early 18th century. The work s...

Benjamin Franklin compiled these pearls of wisdom on wealth and personal finance from Poor Richard's Almanack. Today is 250th anniversary since the book fist appeared as a pamphlet in 1758. Some proverbs from Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth: "There are no gains, without pains" "One today is worth two tomorrows" "Time is money" "A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things" "Get what you can, and what you get hold" "Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the ...

According to Wikipedia: "Ebenezer Cooke (ca. 1665 ca. 1732), a London-born poet, wrote what some scholars consider the first American satire: “The Sotweed Factor, or A Voyage to Maryland, A Satyr” (1708). He has been fictionalized by John Barth as the comically innocent protagonist of The Sot-Weed Factor, a novel in which a series of fantastic misadventures leads Cooke to write his poem. As Barth explained, The SotWeed Factor began with the title and, of course, Ebenezer Cooke's original p...

Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul is William Blake's visionary lyric sequence contrasting childhood's radiant trust with the wounded knowledge of social, religious, and political oppression. Written in deceptively simple songs, ballads, and nursery-like rhythms, the poems fuse biblical symbolism, prophetic intensity, and radical critique. In the context of Romanticism, Blake stands apart: his illuminated printing unites text and image, ...

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was an English poet, theologian, literary critic, philosopher, and co-founder of the English Romantic Movement. He was also a member of the famous Lake Poets, together with William Wordsworth and Robert Southey. Coleridge had a significant influence on the the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson and American Transcendentalism in general, and also played an important role in bringing German idealist philosophy to the English-speaking world. One of Coleridge's mos...

In "Fanny, with Other Poems," Fitz-Greene Halleck presents a captivating exploration of romanticism and human emotion through a blend of lyrical intensity and imaginative expression. The central poem, "Fanny," delves into themes of love and longing, portraying a complex interplay of desire and introspection. Written in a style that echoes the heightened sensibilities of the early 19th century, Halleck employs rich imagery and musicality, crafting verse that is both accessible and profound,...

Explore the transcendent world of unity and ultimate beauty in Edgar Allan Poe’s verse in this complete poetry collection.Although best known for his short stories, Edgar Allan Poe was by nature and choice a poet. From his exquisite lyric “To Helen,” to his immortal masterpieces, “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” and “The Raven,” Poe stands beside the celebrated English romantic poets Shelley, Byron, and Keats, and his haunting, sensuous poetic vision profoundly influenc...

Benjamin Franklin's classic book is full of timeless, thought-provoking insights that are as valuable today as they were over two centuries ago. With more than 700 pithy proverbs, Franklin lays out the rules everyone should live by and offers advice on such subjects as money, friendship, marriage, ethics, and human nature. They range from the famous "A penny saved is a penny earned" to the lesser-known but equally practical "When the wine enters, out goes the truth." Other truisms like "Fi...

ContentsAl AaraafAloneAnnabel LeeThe BellsBridal BalladThe City In The SeaThe ColiseumThe Conqueror WormA DreamDream Within A DreamDreamlandDreamsEldoradoAn EnigmaEulalieEvening StarFairylandFor AnnieThe Forest ReverieThe Happiest DayThe Haunted PalaceHymnImitationIn Youth I Have Known OneIsrafelThe LakeLenoreThe RavenRomanceSilenceThe SleeperSongSonnet -- To ScienceSpirits of The DeadTamerlaneTo F--To Frances S. OsgoodTo HelenTo IsadoreTo Marie LouiseTo My MotherTo One In ParadiseTo The R...

Oroonoko is a short work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn (1640–1689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African in Surinam in the 1660s, and the author's own experiences in the new South American colony. Behn worked for Charles II as a spy during the outset of the Second Dutch War, ending up destitute when she returned to England, and even spending time in a debtors' prison, because Charles failed to pay her properly, or at all. She turn...