The Poems of William Cowper: Volume II: 1782-1785This volume includes some of Cowper's finest works, among them such well-known short poems as `The Poplar-Field', `Epitaph on a Hare', `On the Loss of the Royal George' (here restored to the form in which Cowper wrote it, and accompanied by the music for which it was written), and `The Diverting History of John Gilpin' which, two years after its first anonymous publication in a newspaper, suddenly achieved huge popularity in a series of public readings. It also contains Cowper's masterpiece, The Task - one of the most approachable of the great English poems. Cowper's blank verse is a supple instrument, capable of every effect, from the parody-georgic on the growing of cucumbers to the visionary conclusion of Book VI. At the centre of the poem stands the poet himself, presented with wry humour and deep poignancy. The texts are based on manuscripts as well as early editions of the poetry, and are supplied with textual annotation and commentary. In the case of The Task, this is the first fully annotated edition for over a hundred years; its commentary relates the poem to the period in which it was written more fully than any previous edition. |
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Page 98
... sweet From all my bitter woes . Adieu ! ye vain delights of earth ; Insipid sports , and childish mirth , I taste no sweets in you ; Unknown delights are in the Cross , All joy beside , to me is dross ; And Jesus thought so too . The ...
... sweet From all my bitter woes . Adieu ! ye vain delights of earth ; Insipid sports , and childish mirth , I taste no sweets in you ; Unknown delights are in the Cross , All joy beside , to me is dross ; And Jesus thought so too . The ...
Page 119
... Sweet sleep enjoys the Curate in his desk , The tedious Rector drawling o'er his head , And sweet the Clerk below : but neither sleep Of lazy Nurse , who snores the sick man dead , Nor his who quits the box at midnight hour To slumber ...
... Sweet sleep enjoys the Curate in his desk , The tedious Rector drawling o'er his head , And sweet the Clerk below : but neither sleep Of lazy Nurse , who snores the sick man dead , Nor his who quits the box at midnight hour To slumber ...
Page 128
... sweet Nature ev'ry sense . The air salubrious of her lofty hills , The chearing fragrance of her dewy vales And music of her woods - no works of man May rival these ; these all bespeak a power Peculiar , and exclusively her own ...
... sweet Nature ev'ry sense . The air salubrious of her lofty hills , The chearing fragrance of her dewy vales And music of her woods - no works of man May rival these ; these all bespeak a power Peculiar , and exclusively her own ...
Contents
POEMS 17821784 I | 22 |
Bulls Preface to Poems Translated from the French | 441 |
Poem Translated by Cowper | 447 |
Copyright | |
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Æneid appears beauty beneath boys cause charms Clifton Reynes Collated copy COPY-TEXT Cowper Illustrated Cowper's hand Cowper's letter deleted delight divine earth edition English Ev'n ev'ry fair fear feel flow'r garden Gentleman's Magazine give glory grace Guyon Handel Commemoration happy hast Hayley heart heav'n John Gilpin Johnson Joseph Hill Joseph Johnson King Lady Austen Lady Hesketh letter to Unwin lines live London Lord Love Madame Guyon mind Mme Guyon Morning Chronicle nature never night o'er Olney once Paradise Lost passage peace perhaps pleasure poem pow'r praise printing reference sacred scene schools sense shades smile song soon sorrow soul stanzas Summer sweet Task taste thee thine thou art thought Tirocinium Title translation truth verse virtue VOLUME 2 CANTIQUE Westminster Westminster School William Bull William Cowper William Unwin winter woes ΙΟ