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.
bosom egg fatal laid nest pleasure
Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid / In every bosom where her nest is made.
days pleasure thus
Thus always teasing others, and days teas'd, His only pleasure is to be displeas'd
came haste pleasure shall turning
So turning to his horse, he said, / I am in haste to dine; / 'Twas for your pleasure you came here, / You shall go back for mine.
imposed pleasures whose wish
Mortals, whose pleasures are their only care,/ First wish to be imposed on, and then are.
pleasure received
I never received a little pleasure from anything in my life; if I am pleased, it is in the extreme.
regret eggs pleasure
Remorse, the fatal egg that pleasure laid.
sweet poverty pleasure
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.
religion doe pleasure
Religion does not censure or exclude Unnumbered pleasures, harmlessly pursued.
degrees judgment pleasure
Pleasure admitted in undue degree, enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free.
tire pleasure labor
Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much.
celestial fire pregnant
. . . words, pregnant with celestial fire.
cool farewell sound whispering
The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade,/ And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade!
hidden oil wasted
Our wasted oil unprofitably burns,Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns.