Cowper, William (1731-1800)

English poet William Cowper. As well as his literary achievements as a poet, hymn-writer, and translator, Cowper was one of the greatest English letter-writers, writing both of everyday village life and of political and literary events.

English poet. His verse anticipates Romanticism and includes the six books of The Task (1785). He also wrote hymns (including ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way’). Cowper's work is important for its directness and descriptive accuracy, and deals with natural themes developed later (especially in the poetry of English poet William Wordsworth. Cowper was also among the finest of English letter writers. His letters contain humorous accounts of the trivia of rural life and sensitive descriptions of nature, disrupted from time to time by the expression of irrational fear.

Cowper was born in Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. He trained as a lawyer, but suffered a mental breakdown in 1763 and entered an asylum, where he underwent an evangelical conversion. In 1767 he moved to Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he came under the influence of John Newton (1725-1807), curate of the village. In 1779 appeared the Olney Hymns, written in conjunction with Newton (about 68 of the 348 hymns were by Cowper). His next volume, consisting of secular verse, appeared in 1782, and contained ‘Table Talk’, ‘The Progress of Error’, ‘Truth’, and ‘Expostulation’. The tale of John Gilpin - a shopkeeper and his wife on an ill-fated outing - inspired a delightful humorous poem (1785). The Task in blank verse brought the poet unexpected success and fame. In 1794 came Cowper's final attack of mental illness, from which he never entirely recovered. ‘The Castaway’ (1798) gives a sad picture of his state of mind in his last years.