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
pleasure poetic poets
There is a pleasure in poetic painsWhich only poets know.
celestial fire pregnant
. . . words, pregnant with celestial fire.
beneath clear leads life noise pearl turbulence wisdom wise
A life all turbulence and noise may seem,To him that leads it, wise and to be praised;But wisdom is a pearl with most successSought in still water, and beneath clear skies.
creator worships yes
A self-made man? Yes - and worships his creator
smith
And the first smith was the first murderer's son.
himself narrow silly wanderer wonder
Himself a wanderer from the narrow way, / His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray?
imposed pleasures whose wish
Mortals, whose pleasures are their only care,/ First wish to be imposed on, and then are.
monarch none
I am monarch of all I survey,My right there is none to dispute.
herd left stricken
I was a stricken deer, that left the herd / Long since.
hope tomorrow passed-away
The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.
church leprosy sin
When nations are to perish in their sins, 'tis in the Church the leprosy begins.
drawing common-sense buckets
Defend me, therefore, common sense, say From reveries so airy, from the toil Of dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up.
church dukes enough
The parson knows enough who knows a Duke.
cool farewell sound whispering
The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade,/ And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade!