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
careless damning kiss outside sin
Thousands, careless of the damning sin, / Kiss the book's outside who ne'er look within.
heard language last life lips oh passed roughly since thee
Oh that those lips had language! Life has passed With me but roughly since I heard thee last
ah might since sky twentieth year
The twentieth year is well-nigh past, / Since first our sky was overcast; / Ah would that this might be the last! / My Mary!
blood church dear dying god lose precious shall sin thy
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its powerTill all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
alike deserted judgment sin
My sin and judgment are alike peculiar. I am a castaway, deserted and condemned.
sin scolded
No one was ever scolded out of their sins.
church leprosy sin
When nations are to perish in their sins, 'tis in the Church the leprosy begins.
punishment hands sin
Sin let loose speaks punishment at hand.
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.