112-) English Literature

112-) English Literature

William Cowper 

Death and memorials

Cowper was seized with edema, or dropsy, in the spring of 1800 and died on 25 April. He is buried in the chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury, St Nicholas's Church in East Dereham, and a stained-glass window there commemorates his life.

In St Peter's Church in Berkhamsted there are two windows in memory of Cowper: The east window by Clayton & Bell (1872) depicts Cowper at his writing desk accompanied by his pet hares, and bears the inscription "Salvation to the dying man, And to the rising God" (a line from Cowper's poem "The Saviour, what a noble flame"); and in the north aisle, an etched glass window is inscribed with lines from "Oh! for a closer walk with God" and "The Task". In the same church there is also a memorial tablet to the poet's mother, Ann Cowper. Cowper is also commemorated (along with George Herbert) by another Clayton & Bell stained-glass window in St George's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

In 1823, Cowper's correspondence was published posthumously from the original letters in the possession of his kinsman John Johnson.

Near the village of Weston Underwood, Buckinghamshire, where Cowper once resided, is a folly named Cowper's Alcove. The folly was built by the Lord of the Manor of Weston House, a member of the Throckmorton family in 1753. Cowper was known to visit there frequently for inspiration for his poetry. The alcove is mentioned in Cowper's "The Task". The folly was dedicated to Cowper by the Buckinghamshire county council green belt estate, and a plaque with the verse from "The Task" referencing the alcove was installed.

Works

Poems

YEAR         TITLE

1731  The Snail

1783  Epitaph on a Hare

1785  The Task, Book II, A Time-Piece [excerpt]

1779  Olney Hymns, XLVIII [Joy and Peace in Believing]

1779  Olney Hymns, I, [Walking with God]

1779  Olney Hymns, XXXII [The Shining Light]

1779  Olney Hymns, IX [The Contrite Heart]

1785  The Task, Book I, The Sofa [excerpt]

1799  The Castaway

1816  Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion

The Winter Nosegay, 1777

Olney Hymns, 1778–1779, in collaboration with John Newton

John Gilpin, 1782

Epitaph on a Hare, 1782

Cowper's first independent volume, Poems by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq., 1782

The Rose, 1783

The Task, 1785

The Morning Dream, 1788

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, 1791 (translations from the Greek).

The Retired Cat, 1791

To Mary, 1793

On the Ice Islands Seen Floating in the German Ocean, 1803

The Castaway, 1803

Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion, 1815

The Poplar-Field, 1785

Lines Written During a Period of Insanity, 1816

Further information: English_translations_of_Homer § Cowper

Hymns

Cowper is represented with fifteen hymns in American Presbyterian Edwin Hatfield's 1872 opus The Church Hymn Book for the Worship of God.

127 Jesus! where'er thy people meet

357 The Spirit breathes upon the word

450 There is a fountain, filled with blood

790 Hark! my soul! it is the Lord

856 To Jesus, the Crown of my hope

871 Far from the world, O Lord! I flee

885 My Lord! how full of sweet content (1782 translation)

932 What various hindrances we meet

945 Oh! for a closer walk with God

965 When darkness long has veiled my mind

1002 'Tis my happiness below

1009 O Lord! in sorrow I resign (1782 translation)

1029 O Lord! my best desire fulfill

1043 There is a safe and secret place

1060 God of my life! to thee I call

Familiar quotations

GOD moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm .

"Light Shining out of Darkness", Olney Hymns, 1779

There is a fountain fill'd with blood

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;

And sinners, plung'd beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

"Praise for the Fountain Opened", Olney Hymns, 1779

Oh! for a closer walk with GOD,

A calm and heav'nly frame;

A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb!

"Walking with God", Olney Hymns, 1779

God made the country, and man made the town.

"The Sofa", The Task, vol. I, 1785, line 749

There is a pleasure in poetic pains

Which only poets know .

"The Timepiece", The Task, vol. II, 1785, lines 285–286

Variety's the very spice of life,

That gives it all its flavour.

"The Timepiece", The Task, vol. II, 1785, lines 606–607

I am monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;

From the centre all round to the sea,

I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk, 1782, lines 1–4

No voice divine the storm allay'd,

No light propitious shone;

When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,

We perish'd, each alone;

But I beneath a rougher sea,

And whelmed in deeper gulphs than he .

The Castaway, 1799, lines 61–66

'Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat,

To peep at such a world; to see the stir

Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd;

To hear the roar she sends through all her gates

At a safe distance, where the dying sound

Falls a soft murmur on the uninjur'd ear.

"The Winter Evening", The Task, vol. IV, 1785, lines 88–93