Cowpea
William, pronounced cooper (1731-1800), an English poet. His father was court chaplain. William was trained for the law. He received a government clerkship, and lost his mind while studying to take examinations. He sank into a sort of religious mania from which, however, he emerged to write a number of elevated, graceful poems. He died in utter madness and despair. His more mature poems are : Moral Satires, written in imitation of Pope; The Task, in praise of a quiet, secluded country life, a poem much admired by Burns; a Translation of Homer; The Loss of the Royal George, a warship that went down in the English Channel with terrible loss of life; To Mary, in honor of a lady friend; Alexander Selkirk, opening with the well known lines,
My right there is none to dispute;
and lastly, John Gilpin's Ride, betraying an unexpected but none the less delightful vein of humor and fun in the poet's makeup.
SAYINGS.
God made the country, man made the town.
Not much the worse for wear.
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home.
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.
As useless if it goes as if it stands.
But when you knock, it never is at home.
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness.
Variety's the very spice of life.
She that asks
Her dear five hundred friends.
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
SAID OF COWPER.
Cowper was the most popular poet of his generation, and the best of English letter writers.--Southey.
Poor charming soul, perishing like a frail flower transplanted from a warm land to the snow: the world's temperature was too rough for it; and the moral law, which should have supported it, tore it with its thorns.--Taine.
Cowper's style is natural and firm, though sometimes dull. He helped to rid poetry of its artificiality.--Emery.