Encyclopedia > William Cowper

  Article Content

William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) (November 26, 1731 - April 25, 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist.

He was born Great Berkhamstead[?], Hertfordshire, England.

William Cowper one of the most popular poets of his time. He changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside.

He suffered from periods of severe depression, which caused him frequently to doubt his fervent evangelical Christianity, the source of his much-loved hymns - going so far once as to express his dismayed surprise at ever having written a particular hymn.

Cowper died in in East Dereham[?], Norfolk.

Works

External Link

Quotations

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
Olney Hymns (1779) 'Light Shining out of Darkness'

Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.
The Task (1785) 'The Timepiece'

I am monarch of all I survey,
'Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk' (1782)



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Lake Ronkonkoma, New York

... at an average density of 546.4/km² (1,414.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 93.53% White, 1.36% African American, 0.15% Native American, 2.41% Asian, ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 31.2 ms