The Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq: With Remarks on Epistolary Writers, Volume 4J. Johnson and Company, 1812 - 430 pages |
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Page 153
... Pope's Homer published by Mr. Wakefield , Cowper eagerly seized the book , and began to read the notes to himself with visible interest . They awakened his attention to his own version of Homer . In August he deliberately engaged in a ...
... Pope's Homer published by Mr. Wakefield , Cowper eagerly seized the book , and began to read the notes to himself with visible interest . They awakened his attention to his own version of Homer . In August he deliberately engaged in a ...
Page 184
... Pope , that " in the " various sorts of composition in which the 66 English have excelled , we have perhaps the " least claim to excellence in the article of let- " ters of our celebrated countrymen . " Those of Pope are generally ...
... Pope , that " in the " various sorts of composition in which the 66 English have excelled , we have perhaps the " least claim to excellence in the article of let- " ters of our celebrated countrymen . " Those of Pope are generally ...
Page 185
... Pope , may be found abundant , and complete , in the various corres- pondence of Cowper . He was indeed a being of such genuine simplicity and tenderness , so absolute a stranger to artifice and disguise ; his affections were so ardent ...
... Pope , may be found abundant , and complete , in the various corres- pondence of Cowper . He was indeed a being of such genuine simplicity and tenderness , so absolute a stranger to artifice and disguise ; his affections were so ardent ...
Page 216
... dignified satirists are little better than mere beadles of Parnassus . He considered satire ra- ther as the bane , than the glory , both of Dry- den and of Pope : in truth , though many an upright man has , in a fit of honest moral 216.
... dignified satirists are little better than mere beadles of Parnassus . He considered satire ra- ther as the bane , than the glory , both of Dry- den and of Pope : in truth , though many an upright man has , in a fit of honest moral 216.
Page 232
... Pope ; but unless we could imitate him in the closeness and compact- ness of his expression , as well as in the smooth- ness of his numbers , we had better drop the imitation , which serves no other purpose than to emasculate and weaken ...
... Pope ; but unless we could imitate him in the closeness and compact- ness of his expression , as well as in the smooth- ness of his numbers , we had better drop the imitation , which serves no other purpose than to emasculate and weaken ...
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Common terms and phrases
Adieu admirable affectionate affliction appear bard blank verse brother charm cheerful choly Cowper dearest delight Dereham distress Eartham endeavour ev'ry excellence expressed eyes favorite feel friendship genius ginal give grace Greek hand happy haste heart Heaven Homer honor hope Hurdis Iliad infirmities JOHN JOHNSON John Throckmorton Johnny Johnson justly kind labour LADY HESKETH literary live Lord Thurlow Mary melan melancholy Milton mind morning nature never nihil North Tuddenham obliged occasion Odyssey once perhaps pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope powers praise present quæ quam quod racter reader reason received rejoice Romney Rose seems sight soon sorrow spirit suffer talents tell tender thee thine thing thou tibi tion translation truth Unwin verse vex'd W. C. LETTER W. C. Weston Whig WILLIAM COWPER WILLIAM HAYLEY wish write youth
Popular passages
Page 146 - Twas my distress that brought thee low, My Mary ! Thy needles, once a shining store, For my sake restless heretofore, Now rust disused, and shine no more ; My Mary...
Page 146 - Thy silver locks, once auburn bright, Are still more lovely in my sight Than golden beams of orient light, My Mary! For could I view nor them nor thee, What sight worth seeing could I see ? The sun would rise in vain for me, My Mary! Partakers of thy sad decline, Thy hands their little force resign; Yet gently prest, press gently mine, My Mary!
Page 230 - The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown ; No traveller ever reach'd that blest abode, Who found not thorns and briers in his road.
Page 425 - As in Dodona once thy kindred trees Oracular, I would not curious ask The future, best unknown, but at thy mouth Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past. By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, The clock of history, facts and events Timing more punctual, unrecorded facts Recovering, and misstated setting right...
Page 147 - But ah! by constant heed I know How oft the sadness that I show Transforms thy smiles to looks of woe, My Mary! And should my future lot be cast With much resemblance of the past, Thy worn-out heart will break at last — My Mary!
Page 230 - But he, who knew what human hearts would prove, How slow to learn the dictates of his love, That, hard by nature and of stubborn will, A life of ease would make them harder still, In pity to the souls his grace design'd To rescue from the ruins of mankind, Call'd for a cloud to darken all their years, And said, " Go, spend them in the vale of tears.
Page 168 - Adieu!" At length, his transient respite past, His comrades, who before Had heard his voice in every blast, Could catch the sound no more: For then, by toil subdued, he drank The stifling wave, and then he sank. No poet wept him: but the page Of narrative sincere...
Page 413 - In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care.
Page 425 - Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods ; And time hath made thee what thou art — a cave For owls to roost in.
Page 427 - Time was, when, settling on thy leaf, a fly Could shake thee to the root — and time has been When tempests could not.