Poetry Codex

Romantic

George Crabbe

1754–1832

George Crabbe (1754–1832) was born at Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, trained as a surgeon and apothecary, and went to London in 1780 to try his fortune as a poet. Edmund Burke took him up, and he afterward became a clergyman. The Village (1783), which Samuel Johnson read in manuscript, set out to show the real life of the rural poor against the conventions of pastoral.

His later narrative poems, The Parish Register, The Borough and the Tales, tell the lives of ordinary people in plain, exact couplets and were widely read in his day. Peter Grimes, from The Borough, is the source of Benjamin Britten’s opera.

Poems (212)

  1. The Village, Book I
  2. The Village, Book II
  3. The Newspaper
  4. The Library
  5. The Parish Register, Part I: Baptisms
  6. The Parish Register, Part II: Marriages
  7. The Parish Register, Part III: Burials
  8. The Borough, Letter I: General Description
  9. The Borough, Letter II: The Church
  10. The Borough, Letter XII: Players
  11. The Borough, Letter XIV: Life of Blaney
  12. The Borough, Letter XV: Clelia
  13. The Borough, Letter XIX: The Parish-Clerk
  14. The Borough, Letter XX: Ellen Orford
  15. The Borough, Letter XXI: Abel Keene
  16. The Borough, Letter XXII: Peter Grimes
  17. The Borough, Letter XXIII: Prisons
  18. Procrastination
  19. Edward Shore
  20. The Widow's Tale
  21. The Lover's Journey
  22. The Wager
  23. The Brothers
  24. The Learned Boy
  25. Arabella
  26. Sir Eustace Grey
  27. The Hall of Justice
  28. Woman
  29. The Birth of Flattery
  30. Reflections
  31. Solitude
  32. A Song
  33. Concluding Lines of Prize Poem on Hope
  34. To Emma
  35. Despair
  36. Cupid
  37. Song
  38. On the Death of William Springall Levett
  39. Parody on Byrom's "My Time, Oh ye Muses"
  40. The Wish (c. 1774)
  41. Inebriety, Part I
  42. Inebriety, Part II
  43. Inebriety, Part III
  44. The Learning of Love
  45. Ye Gentle Gales
  46. Mira
  47. Hymn
  48. The Wish (1778)
  49. The Comparison
  50. Goldsmith to the Author
  51. Fragment
  52. The Resurrection
  53. My Birth-day
  54. To Eliza
  55. Life
  56. The Sacrament
  57. Night
  58. Fragment, Written at Midnight
  59. Midnight
  60. A Farewell
  61. Time
  62. The Choice
  63. A Humble Invocation
  64. From an Epistle to Mira
  65. Concluding Lines of an Epistle to Prince William Henry, afterwards King William IV
  66. Drifting
  67. To the Right Honourable the Earl of Shelburne
  68. An Epistle to a Friend
  69. The Candidate
  70. The Borough, Letter III: The Vicar. The Curate, &c.
  71. The Borough, Letter IV: Sects and Professions in Religion
  72. The Borough, Letter V: The Election
  73. The Borough, Letter VI: Professions. Law
  74. The Borough, Letter VII: Professions. Physic
  75. The Borough, Letter VIII: Trades
  76. The Borough, Letter IX: Amusements
  77. The Borough, Letter X: Clubs and Social Meetings
  78. The Borough, Letter XI: Inns
  79. The Borough, Letter XIII: The Alms-House and Trustees
  80. The Borough, Letter XVI: Benbow
  81. The Borough, Letter XVII: The Hospital and Governors
  82. The Borough, Letter XVIII: The Poor and Their Dwellings
  83. The Borough, Letter XXIV: Schools
  84. The Dumb Orators
  85. The Parting Hour
  86. The Gentleman Farmer
  87. The Patron
  88. The Frank Courtship
  89. The Mother
  90. 'Squire Thomas
  91. Jesse and Colin
  92. The Struggles of Conscience
  93. The 'Squire and the Priest
  94. The Confidant
  95. Resentment
  96. The Convert
  97. Tales of the Hall, Book I: The Hall
  98. Tales of the Hall, Book II: The Brothers
  99. Tales of the Hall, Book III: Boys at School
  100. Tales of the Hall, Book IV: Adventures of Richard
  101. Tales of the Hall, Book V: Ruth
  102. Tales of the Hall, Book VI: Adventures of Richard (concluded)
  103. Tales of the Hall, Book VII: The Elder Brother
  104. Tales of the Hall, Book VIII: The Sisters
  105. Tales of the Hall, Book IX: The Preceptor Husband
  106. Tales of the Hall, Book X: The Old Bachelor
  107. Tales of the Hall, Book XI: The Maid's Story
  108. Tales of the Hall, Book XII: Sir Owen Dale
  109. Tales of the Hall, Book XIII: Delay Has Danger
  110. Tales of the Hall, Book XIV: The Natural Death of Love
  111. Tales of the Hall, Book XV: Gretna Green
  112. Tales of the Hall, Book XVI: Lady Barbara; or, The Ghost
  113. Tales of the Hall, Book XVII: The Widow
  114. Tales of the Hall, Book XVIII: Ellen
  115. Tales of the Hall, Book XIX: William Bailey
  116. Tales of the Hall, Book XX: The Cathedral-Walk
  117. Tales of the Hall, Book XXI: Smugglers and Poachers
  118. Tales of the Hall, Book XXII: The Visit Concluded
  119. Posthumous Tales: Silford Hall; or, The Happy Day
  120. Posthumous Tales: The Family of Love
  121. Posthumous Tales: The Equal Marriage
  122. Posthumous Tales: Rachel
  123. Posthumous Tales: Villars
  124. Posthumous Tales: The Farewell and Return
  125. Posthumous Tales: The School-Fellow
  126. Posthumous Tales: Barnaby, the Shopman
  127. Posthumous Tales: Jane
  128. Posthumous Tales: The Ancient Mansion
  129. Posthumous Tales: The Merchant
  130. Posthumous Tales: The Brother Burgesses
  131. Posthumous Tales: The Dean's Lady
  132. Posthumous Tales: The Wife and Widow
  133. Posthumous Tales: Belinda Waters
  134. Posthumous Tales: The Dealer and Clerk
  135. Posthumous Tales: Danvers and Rayner
  136. Posthumous Tales: The Boat Race
  137. Posthumous Tales: Master William; or, Lad's Love
  138. Posthumous Tales: The Will
  139. Posthumous Tales: The Cousins
  140. Posthumous Tales: Preaching and Practice
  141. Poetical Epistle I: From the Devil. An Epistle General
  142. Poetical Epistle II: To Mira
  143. From Belvoir Castle
  144. The Ladies of the Lake
  145. Infancy: A Fragment
  146. The Magnet
  147. Storm and Calm
  148. Satire
  149. The New Samaritan
  150. Belvoir Castle
  151. The World of Dreams
  152. His Mother's Wedding-Ring
  153. Parham Revisited
  154. Flirtation
  155. Lines in Laura's Album
  156. Lines Written at Warwick
  157. On a Drawing of the Elm Tree, under Which the Duke of Wellington Stood Several Times during the Battle of Waterloo
  158. On Receiving from a Lady a Present of a Ring
  159. To a Lady, with Some Poetical Extracts
  160. To a Lady, on Leaving Her at Sidmouth
  161. To Sarah, Countess of Jersey, on Her Birthday
  162. To a Lady Who Desired Some Verses at Parting
  163. The Friend in Love
  164. Disillusioned
  165. Lines from a Discarded Poem
  166. On the Death of Sir Samuel Romilly
  167. Lines (Edinburgh, 1822)
  168. Lines (Aldborough, 1823)
  169. Tracy
  170. Susan and Her Lovers
  171. Captain Godfrey
  172. The Amours of George
  173. Tragic Tales, Why?
  174. Robert and Catharine
  175. David Jones
  176. The Deserted Family
  177. The Funeral of the Squire
  178. Joseph and Charles
  179. Contentment
  180. To His Grace the Duke of Rutland
  181. Poverty and Love
  182. The Curate's Progress
  183. The Task
  184. Conscious Guiltiness
  185. Belief and Unbelief
  186. Verses Written for the Duke of Rutland's Birthday
  187. Miss Waldron's Birthday
  188. To the Hon. Mrs Spencer
  189. An Inscription at Guy's Cliff
  190. On a View of Barford
  191. Brompton Park Cottage
  192. La Femme Jalouse (Teniers)
  193. The Flowers of the Spring
  194. La Belle Dame sans Merci
  195. Hopeless Love
  196. Union
  197. Revival
  198. Metamorphosis
  199. Jane Adair
  200. Horatio
  201. Jacob and Rachel
  202. David and Saul
  203. Enigma (Sovereign)
  204. Matilda
  205. The Prodigal Going
  206. On a Drawing of Cadlands
  207. On a Drawing by the Hon. Mrs Smith (Eliza Forrester)
  208. For the Drawing of the Lady in the Green Mantle
  209. Joseph's Dream
  210. Rest in the Lord
  211. And He Said unto Her, "Thy Sins Are Forgiven"
  212. Lines, Addressed to the Dowager Duchess of Rutland

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