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
both easier eyes follow foolish
To follow foolish precedents, and winkWith both our eyes, is easier than to think.
daughter eye sky
Sends Nature forth the daughter of the skies... To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.
flower eye inspire
Not a flower But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain, Of his unrivall'd pencil. He inspires Their balmy odors, and imparts their hues, And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes In grains as countless as the seaside sands, The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth Happy who walks with him!
eye hands blind
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st tasteHis works. Admitted once to his embrace,Thou shalt perceive that thou was blind before:Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heartMade pure shall relish with divine delightTill then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.
sweet sadness eye
The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown, And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort, And mar the face of beauty, when no cause For such immeasurable woe appears; These Flora banishes, and gives the fair Sweet smiles, and bloom less transient than her own.
daughter flower eye
Go, mark the matchless working of the power That shuts within the seed the future flower; Bids these in elegance of form excel. In color these, and those delight the smell; Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies, To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes.
art eye cheat
Transforms old print To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes Of gallery critics by a thousand arts.
eye thinking liberty
To follow foolish precedents, and wink With both our eyes, is easier than to think.
ask birds jacques jean shall
I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau - If birds confabulate or no
came haste soon
And up he got, in haste to ride, / But soon came down again.
breed errors faults life
Faults in the life breed errors in the brain,And these, reciprocally, those again.
blood perish rome shall word
Rome shall perish - write that word / In the blood that she has spilt.
says wife
Says John, It is my wedding-day, / And all the world would stare, / If wife should dine at Edmonton, / And I should dine at Ware.
charity press vehicle
Did Charity prevail, the press would proveA vehicle of virtue, truth, and love.