William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) (November 20, 1731 ? April 25, 1800) was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside.

Familiar Quotations from Cowper

;God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants his footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm.

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:Olney Hymns (1779)--'Light Shining out of Darkness'

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;There is a fountain fill'd with bloodDrawn from EMMANUEL's veins;And sinners, plung'd beneath that flood,Lose all their guilty stains.

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:Olney Hymns (1779)--'Praise for the Fountain Opened'

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;Oh! for a closer walk with GOD,A calm and heav'nly frame;A light to shine upon the roadThat leads me to the Lamb!

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:Olney Hymns (1779)--'Walking with God'

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;God made the country, and man made the town.

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:The Task (1785)--'The Sofa' (Book I, line 749)

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;There is a pleasure in poetic painsWhich only poets know.

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:The Task (1785)--'The Timepiece' (Book II, lines 285-6)

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;Variety's the very spice of life,That gives it all its flavour.

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:The Task (1785)--'The Timepiece' (Book II, lines 606-7)

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;I am monarch of all I survey,My right there is none to dispute;From the centre all round to the sea,I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

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:'Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk' (1782), lines 1-4

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;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.

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:"The Castaway" (1799), lines 61-66

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