John Cleveland (June 16, 1613 - April 29, 1658) was an English poet. The son of an usher in a charity school, Cleveland was born in Loughborough, and educated at Hinckley Grammar School and the University of Cambridge, where he became college tutor and lecturer on rhetoric at St John's College, and was much sought after. A staunch Royalist, he opposed the election of Oliver Cromwell as member for Cambridge in the Long Parliament, and lost his college post as a result in 1645. Joining Charles I, by whom he was welcomed, he was appointed to the office of Judge Advocate at Newark. In 1646, however, he lost this office, and wandered about the country dependent on the bounty of the Royalists. In 1655 he was imprisoned at Yarmouth, but released by Cromwell, to whom he appealed, and went to London, where he lived till his death. His best work is satirical, slightly reminiscent of Hudibras; his other poems are considered mediocre. The Poems were published in 1656.
"with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"
It fortifies my soul to know
That, though I perish, Truth is so:
That, howsoe'er I stray a...[read poem]
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That, though I perish, Truth is so:
That, howsoe'er I stray a...
say not the struggle nought availeth
Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints...[read poem]
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The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints...
the latest decalogue
Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be...[read poem]
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Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be...
on the memory of mr. edward king, drown'd in the irish seas
I like not tears in tune, nor do I prize
His artificial grief that scans his eyes;
Mine we...[read poem]
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His artificial grief that scans his eyes;
Mine we...
where lies the land to which the ship would go?
Where lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
An...[read poem]
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Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
An...
qua cursum ventus
As ships, becalm'd at eve, that lay
With canvas drooping, side by side,
Two towers of...[read poem]
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With canvas drooping, side by side,
Two towers of...
perché pensa? pensando s'invecchia
To spend uncounted years of pain,
Again, again, and yet again,
In working out in heart and...[read poem]
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Again, again, and yet again,
In working out in heart and...
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