{\b William Cowper}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 26 November 1731

{\b Date of Death}.: 25 April 1800

{\b Works}.

English poet. The simplicity of his work and his treatment of natural subjects 
was in marked contrast to the sophistication of the fashionable Pope; he was 
an important forerunner of the Romantics, and his unfinished poem 'Yardley 
Oak' was particularly admired by Wordsworth. Other notable poems include 'The 
Poplar Trees', 'The Journey of John Gilpin' and 'The Castaway', while The Task 
is his most ambitious work in verse. Olney Hymns (1779) contains his popular 
hymns 'God moves in a mysterious way' and 'Oh, for a closer walk with God'. 
His autobiographical Memoir was published in 1816, and his letters have been 
widely appreciated, providing an intimate picture of the man.

{\b Featured Works}.

'The Poplar Field', 'Verses', 'Lines Written During a Period of Insanity', 'On 
Observing some Names of Little Note Recorded in the Biographia Britannica', 
'Sonnet to a Young Lady on Her Birthday', 'Apology to Delia: For Desiring a 
Lock of Her Hair', 'To Delia: On Her Endeavouring to Conceal Her Grief at 
Parting', 'On the High Price of Fish', 'On a Goldfinch, Starved to Death in 
His Cage', 'To Mrs Unwin', 'To Mary', 'God Moves in a Mysterious Way', 'The 
Dog and the Water Lily', 'On the Late Indecent Liberties Taken With the 
Remains of Milton', 'The Stream', 'On the Loss of the Royal George', 'The 
Stream', 'To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut', 'The Negro's Complaint', 
'Sweet Meat Has Sour Sauce', 'On a Mischievous Bull', 'On the Receipt of My 
Mother's Picture Out of Norfolk', 'Despair at His Separation from Delia', 
'Reconciliation', 'On a Spaniel, Called Beau, Killing a Young Bird', 'Beau's 
Reply', 'Epitaph on a Free But Tame Redbreast', 'Boadicea', 'The Diverting 
History of John Gilpin', 'A Comparison'.

{\b General Comment}.

William Cowper was the son of a Hertfordshire rector and was educated at a 
local boarding school and Westminster School. He studied law at the Inner 
Temple in London, but never practised it as a career. He suffered from 
depression all his life and his mental health was fragile. The strain on his 
mind was increased by his father's decision to ban him from marrying his first 
love, his cousin Theodora Cowper.

In 1763 the prospect of an examination for a job in the House of Lords caused 
a mental breakdown and he attempted suicide. He was nursed back to health by a 
clergyman, Morley Unwin, and his wife Mary. Cowper stayed with the Unwins and 
became engaged to Mary after Morley's death. His worsening mental condition 
made marriage impossible, but they remained close friends.

Cowper's state of mind was not improved by the company of the curate John 
Newton, a gloomy Calvinist. Under Newton's influence, Cowper came to believe 
that he was destined for eternal damnation, and in 1773 he suffered another 
attack of madness. Although his association with Newton produced the book 
Olney Hymns (1779), it can hardly be described as a fruitful partnership for 
Cowper, and his health improved when the preacher left for London.

Encouraged by Mary Unwin, Cowper wrote a series of moral satires which were 
published in Poems (1782), and his happier frame of mind at this time can be 
seen in poems such as 'Retirement ' and 'Conversation'. Another friend, the 
widow Lady Austen, provided the story for the ballad 'The Journey of John 
Gilpin', as well as the initial idea which Cowper developed into The Task.

In his later years Cowper translated Homer and Milton's Greek and Latin poems. 
The death of Mary Unwin in 1796 resulted in the profound despair which is 
expressed in his last great poem, 'The Castaway'.