William Cowper  Neoclassical

Info

- mentally unstable

- poetry marks passing of neoclassicism among major English poets

- produced some of most richly sensitive verse to appear between eras of Pope and Wordsworth, including three of our most beautiful hymns

- insanity turned him into serious poet whose poems have stirred generations to Christian praise and reflection

- poems combine neoclassical moralism with romantic delight in a rural landscape

- although tormented by fears and sorrows, was wonderfully supplied by God with spiritual advisors, caring friends, and wise spiritual counsel

- didn't draw fully from spiritual resources

- spiritual life was not one of constant defeat

Works

- The Task and Other Poems - greatest poem; major link between James Thomson and romantics

- Olney Hymns

- Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq.

- "The Diverting History of John Gilpin" - comical ballad

Terms

- neoclassicism

- ballad - a short, simple narrative song

- common meter - a variation of ballad stanza (the first and third lines usually rhyme) prevalent among hymns

- ballad stanza - four iambic lines, of which the first and third have four stresses and the second and fourth have three stresses and rhyme

Citation

Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.