ON THIS DAY 26th NOVEMBER 1731. English poet, hymn writer, William Cowper was born. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him the best modern poet, whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. Major works Olney Hymns, 1779, in collaboration with John Newton John Gilpin, 1782 The Task, 1785 Homers Iliad and Odyssey, 1791 (translations from the Greek). Further English translations of Homer. Cowper is represented with fifteen hymns in The Church Hymn book 1872. After being institutionalised for insanity in the period 1763–65, Cowper found refuge in The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns. He continued to suffer doubt and, after a dream in 1773, believed that he was doomed to eternal damnation. His association with John Newton author of the hymn Amazing Grace helped him to recover, and the writing of much of the poetry for which he is best remembered. His poem Light Shining out of Darkness gave the English language the phrase: God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up His bright designs And works His sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain. William Cowper was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England where his father John Cowper was rector of the Church of St Peter. His mother was Ann Cowper. He and his brother John were the only two of seven children to live past infancy. Ann died giving birth to John on November 7, 1737. His mother’s death at such an early age troubled William deeply and was the subject of his poem. “On the Receipt of My Mothers Picture,” written more than fifty years later. He grew close to her family in his early years. He was particularly close with her brother Robert and his wife Harriot. They instilled in young William a love of reading and gave him some of his first books including John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. William was first enrolled in the Westminster School in April of 1742 after moving from school to school for a number of years. He had begun to study Latin from a young age and was an avid scholar of Latin for the rest of his life. After education at Westminster School, he was articled to Mr. Chapman, solicitor, of Ely Place, Holborn, to be trained for a career in law. During this time, he spent his leisure at the home of his uncle Bob Cowper, where he fell in love with his cousin Theodora, whom he wished to marry. But as James Croft, who in 1825 first published the poems Cowper addressed to Theodora, wrote, her father, believed that the union of persons so nearly related was improper, refused to accede to the wishes of his daughter and nephew. In 1763 he was offered a Clerkship of Journals in the House of Lords, but broke under the strain of the approaching examination; he experienced a period of depression and insanity. At this time he tried three times to commit suicide and was sent to Nathaniel Cottons asylum at St. Albans for recovery. His poem beginning Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portions (sometimes referred to as Sapphics) was written in the aftermath of his suicide attempt. After recovering, he settled at Huntingdon with a retired clergyman named Morley Unwin and his wife Mary. Cowper grew to be on such good terms with the Unwin family that he went to live in their house, and moved with them to Olney. There he met John Newton, the former captain of slave ships who had devoted his life to the gospel Of Jesus Christ At Olney, Newton invited Cowper to contribute to a hymnbook that he was compiling. The resulting volume, known as Olney Hymns, was not published until 1779 but includes hymns such as There is a fountain filld with blood and, God Moves in a Mysterious Way In 1773, William again experienced an attack of insanity, imagining not only that he was eternally condemned to hell, but that God was commanding him to make a sacrifice of his own life. Mary Unwin took care of him with great devotion, and after a year he began to recover. In 1779, after John Newton had moved from Olney to London, Cowper started to write poetry again. Cowper and Mary Unwin moved to Weston in 1786, having become close with his cousin Harriet (Theodoras sister), now Lady Hesketh. During this period he started his translations of Homers Iliad and Odyssey into blank verse. His versions (published in 1791) were the most significant English renderings of these epic poems since those of Alexander Pope earlier in the century. Mary Unwin died in 1796, plunging Cowper into a gloom from which he never fully recovered. He did continue to revise his Homer for a second edition of his translation. Aside from writing the powerful and bleak poem, The Castaway, penned some English translations of Greek verse and translated some of the Fables of John Gay into Latin.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:43:04 +0000
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