Portrait of William Cowper attributed to Romney.

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) (November 20, 1731 – April 25, 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (656x736, 38 KB)Portrait of William Cowper (1731-1800); frontispiece in H.S. Milford, ed. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (656x736, 38 KB)Portrait of William Cowper (1731-1800); frontispiece in H.S. Milford, ed. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... -1... Poet is a term applied to a person who composes poetry, including extended forms such as dramatic verse. ... See also hymn - a program to decrypt iTunes music files. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

He suffered from periods of severe depression, and although he found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity, the source of his much-loved hymns, he often experienced doubt and fears that he was doomed to eternal damnation. However, his religious motivations and association with John Newton (who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace") led to much of the poetry for which he is best remembered in the popular mind. Clinical depression is a state of sadness or melancholia that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily living. ... The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of Protestantism, typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically-oriented faith, and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament. ... // Religious In some forms of Western Christian belief, damnation to hell is the punishment of God for persons with unredeemed sin. ... John Newton (July 24, 1725 – December 21, 1807) was an English clergyman and writer who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after converting to Christianity and abandoning his participation in the slave trade. ... Amazing Grace is one of the most well-known Christian hymns. ...

Life of Cowper

He was born in Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England. After education at Westminster School, he was articled to Mr. Chapman, solicitor, of Ely Place, Holborn, in order to be trained for a career in law. During this time, he spent his leisure at the home of his uncle Ashley Cowper, and there fell in love with his cousin Theodora, whom he wished to marry. But as James Croft, who in 1825 first published the poems Cowper addressed to Theodora, wrote, "her father, from an idea that the union of persons so nearly related was improper, refused to accede to the wishes of his daughter and nephew." This refusal left Cowper distraught. Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom, officially part of the East of England Government region. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... Motto: Dat Deus Incrementum The Royal College of St. ... 1825 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1763 he was offered a Clerkship of Journals in the House of Lords, but broke under the strain of the approaching examination and experienced a period of insanity. At this time he tried three times to commit suicide and was sent to Dr. Cotton's asylum at St. Albans for recovery. His poem beginning "Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portions" (sometimes referred to as "Sapphics") was written in the aftermath of his suicide attempt. 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... Look up insanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Suicide and culture be merged into this article or section. ...

After recovering, he settled at Huntingdon with a retired clergyman named Morley Unwin and his wife Mary. Cowper grew to be on such good terms with the Unwin family that he went to live in their house, and moved with them to Olney, where John Newton, a former slave trader who had repented and devoted his life to the gospel, was curate. Not long afterwards, Morley Unwin was killed in a fall from his horse, but Cowper continued to live in the Unwin home and became extremely attached to Mary Unwin. Huntingdon is a town in East Anglia, England. ...

At Olney, Newton invited Cowper to contribute to a hymnbook that Newton was compiling. The resulting volume known as Olney Hymns was not published until 1779 but includes hymns such as "Praise for the Fountain Opened" (beginning "There is a fountain fill'd with blood") and "Light Shining out of Darkness" (beginning "God moves in a mysterious way") which remain some of Cowper's most familiar verses. 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1773, Cowper, now engaged to marry Mrs. Unwin, experienced a new attack of insanity, imagining not only that he was condemned to hell eternally, but that God was commanding him to make a sacrifice of his own life. This attack broke off the engagement, but Mary Unwin took care of him with great devotion, and after a year he began again to recover. In 1779, after Newton had left Olney to go to London, Cowper started to write further poetry. Mary Unwin, wanting to keep Cowper's mind occupied, suggested that he write on the subject of The Progress of Error, and after writing his satire of this name he wrote seven others. All of them were published in 1782 under the title Poems by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq.. 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Crazy Kate, illustration for Cowper's The Task by Henry Fuseli (1806-1807).

The year before this publication, Cowper met a sophisticated and charming widow named Lady Austen who served as a new impetus to his poetry. Cowper himself tells of the genesis of what some have considered his most substantial work, The Task, in his "Advertisement" to the original edition of 1785: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2619, 279 KB) Description: Title: de: Die wahnsinnige Kate Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 92 × 72,3 cm Country of origin: de: Schweiz und Großbritanien Current location (city): de: Frankfurt am Main Current location (gallery): de: Freies Deutsches... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2619, 279 KB) Description: Title: de: Die wahnsinnige Kate Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 92 × 72,3 cm Country of origin: de: Schweiz und Großbritanien Current location (city): de: Frankfurt am Main Current location (gallery): de: Freies Deutsches... Fuseli talking to Johann Jakob Bodmer, 1778-1781. ... 1785 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

"...A lady, fond of blank verse, demanded a poem of that kind from the author, and gave him the SOFA for a subject. He obeyed; and, having much leisure, connected another subject with it; and, pursuing the train of thought to which his situation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length, instead of the trifle which he at first intended, a serious affair--a Volume!"

In the same volume Cowper also printed "The Diverting History of John Gilpin," a notable piece of comic verse. John Gilpin (18th century) was a real-life character whose exploits became legendary and featured in a well-known comic ballad by William Cowper of 1782, entitled, The Diverting History of John Gilpin. ...

Cowper and Mary Unwin moved to Weston in 1786 and shortly before this became close with his cousin Harriet (Theodora's sister), now Lady Hesketh. During this period he started his translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey into blank verse, and his versions (published in 1791) were the most significant English renderings of these epic poems since those of Alexander Pope earlier in the century, although later critics have faulted Cowper's Homer for being too much in the mold of John Milton. 1786 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek: Ιλιάς, Iliás) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. ... Alexander Pope, an English poet best known for his Essay on Criticism and Rape of the Lock Pope, circa 1727. ... See John Milton (disambiguation) for other uses John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ...

Mary Unwin died in 1796, plunging Cowper into a gloom from which he never fully recovered. He did, however, continue revising his Homer for a second edition of his translation, and, aside from writing the powerful and bleak poem "The Castaway," penned some English translations of Greek verse and turned some of the Fables of John Gay into Latin. 1796 was a leap year starting on Friday. ... John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 - 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist. ...

Cowper was seized with dropsy in the spring of 1800 and died in East Dereham, Norfolk. Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. ... -1... Map sources for East Dereham at grid reference TF9812 East Dereham, also known simply as Dereham, is a town (population 15659) in Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (pronounced IPA: /nɔ:fək/) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ...

Major Works

• Olney Hymns, 1779, in collaboration with John Newton
• John Gilpin, 1782
• The Task, 1785
• Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, 1791 (translations from the Greek).

The Olney Hymns is a famous collection of hymns written by John Newton, William Cowper, and other hymnodists. ... 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... John Newton (July 24, 1725 – December 21, 1807) was an English clergyman and writer who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after converting to Christianity and abandoning his participation in the slave trade. ... John Gilpin (18th century) was a real-life character whose exploits became legendary and featured in a well-known comic ballad by William Cowper of 1782, entitled, The Diverting History of John Gilpin. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1785 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek: Ιλιάς, Iliás) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text — and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text — the target text, or translation. ...

Familiar Quotations from Cowper

GOD moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Olney Hymns (1779)--'Light Shining out of Darkness'

There is a fountain fill'd with blood
Drawn from EMMANUEL's veins;
And sinners, plung'd beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

Olney Hymns (1779)--'Praise for the Fountain Opened'

Oh! for a closer walk with GOD,
A calm and heav'nly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

Olney Hymns (1779)--'Walking with God'

God made the country, and man made the town.

The Task (1785)--'The Sofa' (Book I, line 749)

There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only poets know.

The Task (1785)--'The Timepiece' (Book II, lines 285-6)

Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.

The Task (1785)--'The Timepiece' (Book II, lines 606-7)

I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

'Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk' (1782), lines 1-4

No voice divine the storm allay'd,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,
We perish'd, each alone;
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelmed in deeper gulphs than he.

"The Castaway" (1799), lines 61-66

Alexander Selkirk, born Alexander Selcraig, (1676–December 13, 1721) was a sailor who spent 4 years as a castaway on an uninhabited island; he is supposed to be the prototype of Defoes Robinson Crusoe. ...

References

• Harold Child, "William Cowper," in Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21. As given at Bartleby.com. (Some biographical data utilized.)
• H.S. Milford, The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper. London: Oxford University Press, 1913. No ISBN number. ("Chronological Table" on pp. xxiv-xxx heavily utilized for biographical data.)

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

William Cowper

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

William Cowper

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikisource – The Free Library – is a Wikimedia project to build a free, wiki library of primary source texts, along with translations of source-texts into any language and other supporting materials. ... Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... Wikiquote logo Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

Works by Cowper

• Works by William Cowper at Project Gutenberg
• Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper at CCEL
• Project Gutenberg e-text: The Task, and Other Poems
• Selected Poems at The Poet's Corner
• Selected Poetry of Cowper at the University of Toronto
• Electronic text of Cowper's "Odyssey" translation at bibliomania.com.

Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ... The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a volunteer-based project to provide free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts. ... Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

Works about Cowper

• Detailed account of William Cowpers life in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (Scroll down to Cowper the poet)
• Free eBook Cowper at Project Gutenberg