William Cowper (26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist.
Contents |
Sourced
- Absence from whom we love is worse than death,
And frustrate hope severer than despair.
- "Hope, like the short-lived ray that gleams awhile", line 35
- But oars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the distant coast;
The breath of Heaven must swell the sail,
Or all the toil is lost.
- "Human Frailty", line 21 (1779)
- Reasoning at every step he treads,
Man yet mistakes his way,
While meaner things, whom instinct leads,
Are rarely known to stray.
- "The Doves", line 1. (1780)
- Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oftenest in what least we dread,
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
- "A Fable" (or "The Raven"), line 36
- True Charity, a plant divinely nurs'd.
- "Charity", line 573. (1781)
- "Regions Caesar never knew
Thy posterity shall sway;
Where his eagles never flew,
None invincible as they."
Such the bard's prophetic words, Pregnant with celestial fire, Bending as he swept the chords Of his sweet but awful lyre.
- "Boadicea" (1782)
- Sweet stream that winds through yonder glade,
Apt emblem of a virtuous maid
Silent and chaste she steals along,
Far from the world's gay busy throng:
With gentle yet prevailing force,
Intent upon her destined course;
Graceful and useful all she does,
Blessing and blest where'er she goes;
Pure-bosom'd as that watery glass,
And Heaven reflected in her face.
- "To a Young Lady" (1782)
- Candid, and generous, and just,
Boys care but little whom they trust,
An error soon corrected—
For who but learns in riper years
That man, when smoothest he appears
Is most to be suspected?
- "Friendship", line 19 (1782)
- Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.
- "From a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Newton", line 21. (1782)
- I believe no man was ever scolded out of his sins.
- Letter to John Newton, June 17, 1783.
- An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin,
Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.
- "Epistle to Joseph Hill", line 62 (1785)
- Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a luster, he that runs may read.
- "Tirocinium", line 79 (1785)
- Toll for the brave —
The brave! that are no more;
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore!
- "On the Loss of the Royal George", st. 1 (1791)
- And still to love, though prest with ill,
In wintry age to feel no chill,
With me is to be lovely still,
My Mary!
- "To Mary", st. 11 (1791)
- Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not that, would do nothing.
- Letter to the Rev. John Johnson, September 29, 1793.
- Beware of desp'rate steps! The darkest day
(Live till tomorrow) will have passed away.
- "The Needless Alarm, Moral" (1794)
- Misses! the tale that I relate
This lesson seems to carry —
Choose not alone a proper mate,
But proper time to marry.
- "Pairing Time Anticipated, Moral" (c. 1794)
- Misery still delights to trace
Its semblance in another's case.
- "The Castaway" (1799)
- 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)
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!
- No. 1, "Walking With God"
- What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
- No. 1, "Walking With God"
- And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
- No. 29, "Exhortation to Prayer"
- God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
- The opening statement is often quoted as: God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
- No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness"
- Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
- No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness"
- Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
- No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness"
- His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
- No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness"
- Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
- No. 35, "Light Shining out of Darkness"
- 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.
- No. 79, "Praise for the Fountain Opened"
Table Talk (1782)
- I play with syllables and sport in song
- From:First of the Moral Satires
- Glory, built
On selfish principles, is shame and guilt.
- Line 1
- Thus happiness depends, as Nature shows,
Less on exterior things than most suppose.
- Line 246
- Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
- Line 260
- Manner is all in all, whate'er is writ,
The substitute for genius, sense, and wit.
- Line 542
- Low ambition and the thirst of praise.
- Line 591
The Progress of Error (1782)
- Lights of the world, and stars of human race.
- Line 97
- Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid.
- Line 240
- How much a dunce that has been sent to roam
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home!
- Line 415
- No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest,
Till half mankind were like himself possess'd.
- Line 470
Conversation (1782)
- 'Tis hard if all is false that I advance,
A fool must now and then be right by chance.
- Line 96
- He would not, with a peremptory tone,
Assert the nose upon his face his own.
- Line 121
- A moral, sensible, and well-bred man
Will not affront me, and no other can.
- Line 193
- Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriendly to society's chief joys,
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilizes ours.
- Line 251
- I cannot talk with civet in the room,
A fine puss-gentleman that's all perfume.
- Line 283
- The solemn fop; significant and budge;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
- Line 299
- His wit invites you by his looks to come,
But when you knock it never is at home.
- Line 303
- I pity bashful men, who feel the pain
Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain,
And bear the marks upon a blushing face,
Of needless shame, and self-impos'd disgrace.
- Line 347
- Our wasted oil unprofitably burns,
Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns.
- Line 357
- But that disease when soberly defined
Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind.
- Line 667
- Of fanaticism.
- But Conversation, choose what theme we may,
And chiefly when religion leads the way,
Should flow, like waters after summer show'rs,
Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers.
- Line 703
Retirement (1782)
- A business with an income at its heels
Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.
- Line 615
- Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
- Line 623
- An idler is a watch that wants both hands;
As useless when it goes as when it stands.
- Line 681
- Philologists, who chase
A panting syllable through time and space,
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.
- Line 691
- I praise the Frenchman [Voltaire], his remark was shrewd —
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!
But grant me still a friend in my retreat
Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet.
- Line 739
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk (1782)
(This was Cowper's tribute to the actual man whose shipwrecked existence upon an island inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe.)
- I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the center all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
- Line 1
- O solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.
- Line 5
- I am out of humanity's reach.
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech;
I start at the sound of my own.
- Line 9
- Society friendship and love
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
O had I the wings of a dove
How soon I would taste you again!
- Line 17
- Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!
- Line 25
- My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.
- Line 37
- There is mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace
And reconciles man to his lot.
- Line 53
History of John Gilpin (1785)
- Though on pleasure she was bent,
She had a frugal mind.
- St. 8
- The dogs did bark, the children screamed,
Up flew the windows all;
And every soul cried out, "Well done!"
As loud as he could bawl.
- St. 28
- A hat not much the worse for wear.
- St. 46
- Now let us sing — Long live the king,
And Gilpin, long live he;
And, when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see!
- St. 63
|
[Hide]▼
news.google.com
The Guardian
Lucky liked killing birds, and years later I would think of him when I read William Cowper's pretty little poem to Beau, the dog with a taste for the avian ...
and more »
inoutentertainment.blogspot.com
rahmatmu
Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:17:00 GM
In Olney, the new curate met the poet . William Cowper. , also a newly-born Christian. Their friendship led to a spiritual collaboration that completed the inspiration for "Amazing Grace," the poem Newton most likely penned around Christmas ...
[Hide]▲
