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
enter fine foot list manners polished sets wanting
I would not enter on my list of friends / (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, / Yet wanting sensibility) the man / Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
genius manner substitute whatever wit
Manner is all in all whatever is writ, the substitute for genius sense and wit
man strive
But strive still to be a man before your mother.
cause fight freedom mankind noblest
They that fight for freedom undertakeThe noblest cause mankind can have at stake.
cause fight freedom mankind noblest undertake
They that fight for freedom undertake The noblest cause mankind can have at stake.
enthusiast half mankind till wild
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest, till half of mankind were, like himself, possest
base blessings born fire heroic man moved takes
The man that is not moved with what he reads,That takes not fire at their heroic deeds,Unworthy of the blessings of the brave,Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
bear friend indeed man pardon proves tom
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, / And proves by thumps upon your back / How he esteems your merit, / Is such a friend, that one had need / Be very much his friend indeed / To pardon or to bear it.
men he-man employed
Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ills that checker life.
moral manners courtesy
A moral, sensible, and well-bred manWill not affront me, and no other can.
men safety he-man
The man that dares traduce, because he can with safety to himself, is not a man.
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.