The Works of William Cowper

by William Cowper

His life, letters, and poems, now first completed by the introduction of Cowper's private correspondence

This one-volume edition of 1849, edited by the Reverend T. S. Grimshawe, contains the life, letters and poems of William Cowper. The life, told largely through Cowper's own correspondence, follows him from Berkhamsted through the breakdowns and the religious despair that shadowed his adult years, the long retirement at Olney and Weston with Mary Unwin, and the friendship with John Newton. The poems include the Olney Hymns, the satires of the 1782 volume, The Task, his long meditative poem on the sofa, the garden, the countryside and the winter evening, the comic ballad of John Gilpin, The Castaway, and the translations from Homer and Milton. Cowper's letters are among the best in English, and his poetry opened the way for Wordsworth. It is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, with the first chapter free.