William Cowper
William Cowper
William Cowper 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. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. He was a nephew of the poet Judith Madan...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth26 November 1731
sleep slavery fans
I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.
sports reading giving
The mind, relaxing into needful sport, Should turn to writers of an abler sort, Whose wit well managed, and whose classic style, Give truth a lustre, and make wisdom smile.
golden truth-is girdles
Truth is the golden girdle of the globe.
despair purpose purses
Most satirists are indeed a public scourge; Their mildest physic is a farrier's purge; Their acrid temper turns, as soon as stirr'd, The milk of their good purpose all to curd. Their zeal begotten, as their works rehearse, By lean despair upon an empty purse.
sports country mad
Ten thousand casks, Forever dribbling out their base contents, Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state, Bleed gold for ministers to sport away. Drink, and be mad then; 'tis your country bids!
drop half pause puff sentence solemn time
The pipe, with solemn interposing puff,Makes half a sentence at a time enough;The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain,Then pause, and puff -- and speak, and pause again.
chance false fool fools-and-foolishness hard tis
Tis hard if all is false that I advance, A fool must now and then be right, by chance
great stir tis
Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, / To peep at such a world; to see the stir / Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.
days pleasure thus
Thus always teasing others, and days teas'd, His only pleasure is to be displeas'd
dread drink endless evil god good spring thou
Thou god of our idolatry, the press. . . .Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise;Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies;Like Eden's dread probationary tree,Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.
bell repair unto
To-morrow is our wedding-day, / And we will then repair / Unto the Bell at Edmonton, / All in a chaise and pair.
celestial fire pregnant
. . . words, pregnant with celestial fire.
beneath blood drawn filled fountain guilty lose
There is a fountain filled with blood / Drawn from Emmanuel's veins; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains.
mean mind subject
To dally much with subject mean and lowProves that the mind is weak, or makes it so.