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"Drink, and be mad, then; 'tis your country bids!
Gloriously drunk, obey th'important call!"
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. repr. In Poetical Works, ed. H.S. Milford (1934). The Task, bk. 4, l. 509-10 (1785). |
"The parson knows enough who knows a duke."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. repr. In Poetical Works, ed. H.S. Milford (1934). Tirocinium, l. 403 (1785). |
"The twentieth year is well-nigh past;
Since first our sky was overcast,
Ah would that this might be the last!
My Mary!
Thy spirits have a fainter flow,
I see thee daily weaker grow—
'Twas my distress that brought thee low,
My Mary!
Thy needles, once a shining store,
For my sake restless heretofore,
Now rust disus'd, and shine no more,
My Mary!"
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. To Mary (l. 1-12). . .
New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse, The. Roger Lonsdale, ed. (1984) Oxford University Press. |
"There is a Book
By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light,
On which the eyes of God not rarely look,
A chronicle of actions just and bright—
There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine;
And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. To Mary Unwin (l. 9-14). . .
Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New ed., rev. and enl., 1939) Oxford University Press. |
"Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!"
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. repr. In Poetical Works, ed. H.S. Milford (1934). Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk, l. 25-6 (1782). |
"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.
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."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. Verses Supposed to Be Written by Alexander Selkirk during His Solitary Abode on the Island of Juan Fernandez (l. 1-8). . .
New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse, The. Roger Lonsdale, ed. (1984) Oxford University Press. |
"When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there;
But alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. Verses Supposed to Be Written by Alexander Selkirk during His Solitary Abode on the Island of Juan Fernandez (l. 45-48). . .
New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse, The. Roger Lonsdale, ed. (1984) Oxford University Press. |
"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!"
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. Walking with God (l. 1-4). . .
New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse, The. Roger Lonsdale, ed. (1984) Oxford University Press. |
"Once more I would adopt the graver style—
A teacher should be sparing of his smile."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. repr. In Poetical Works, ed. H.S. Milford (1934). Charity, l. 489-90 (1782). |
"Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriendly to society's chief joys."
William Cowper (1731-1800), British poet. repr. In Poetical Works, ed. H.S. Milford (1934). Conversation, l. 251-2 (1782). |
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