ON A LITIGIOUS DEBTOR
ON A MISCHIEVOUS BULL, WHICH THE OWNER OF HIM SOLD AT THE AUTHOR’S INSTANCE
ON A MISER
ON A MISER II
ON A MISER III
ON A MISTAKE IN HIS TRANSLATION OF HOMER
ON A NEW-CREATED NOBLE
ON A PLANT OF VIRGIN’S-BOWER DESIGNED TO COVER A GARDEN-SEAT
ON A REVIEW CONDEMNING THELYPHTHORA
ON A SIMILAR CHARACTER
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION FOR THE YEAR 1788
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION FOR THE YEAR 1789
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION FOR THE YEAR 1790
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION FOR THE YEAR 1792
ON A SIMILAR OCCASION FOR THE YEAR 1793
ON A SPANIEL CALLED BEAU KILLING A YOUNG BIRD
ON A THIEF
ON A TRUE FRIEND
ON AN INFANT
ON AN OLD WOMAN
ON AN UGLY FELLOW
ON ENVY
ON FEMALE INCONSTANCY
ON FLATTERERS
ON FLAXMAN’S PENELOPE
ON HAYLEY’S PORTRAIT
ON HER ENDEAVOURING TO CONCEAL HER GRIEF AT PARTING
ON HERMOCRATIA
ON HIS APPROACHING VISIT TO HAYLEY
ON HIS CANDID & UNCANDID READERS
ON HIS PORTRAIT
ON INVALIDS
ON LATE ACQUIRED WEALTH
ON LOYALTY
ON MADAN’S ANSWER TO NEWTON’S COMMENTS ON THELYPHTHORA
ON MRS. MONTAGU’S FEATHER-HANGINGS
ON NIOBE
ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE RECORDED IN THE BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA
ON ONE IGNORANT AND ARROGANT
ON PALLAS BATHING, FROM A HYMN OF CALLIMACHUS
ON PEDIGREE. FROM EPICHARMUS
ON RECEIVING HAYLEY’S PICTURE
ON RECEIVING HEYNE’S VIRGIL FROM HAYLEY
ON THE ASTROLOGERS
ON THE AUTHOR OF LETTERS ON LITERATURE
ON THE BENEFIT RECEIVED BY HIS MAJESTY FROM SEA-BATHING IN THE YEAR 1789
ON THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD’S LIBRARY TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS. BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE 1780
ON THE DEATH OF DAMON.
ON THE DEATH OF MRS. THROCKMORTON’S BULFINCH
ON THE DEATH OF SIR W. RUSSELL
ON THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF ELY. ANNO AET. 17.
ON THE DEATH OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, A PHYSICIAN
ON THE ENGRAVER OF HIS POURTRAIT
ON THE GRASSHOPPER
ON THE HIGH PRICE OF FISH
ON THE INVENTOR OF GUNS
ON THE JOY UNIVERSALLY EXPRESS’D ON THE KING’S HAPPY ESCAPE FROM ASSASSINATION
ON THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE
ON THE PICTURE OF A SLEEPING CHILD.
ON THE PLATONIC ‘IDEAL’ AS IT WAS UNDERSTOOD BY ARISTOTLE.
ON THE PRODIGAL AND THE COVETOUS
ON THE PROMOTION OF EDWARD THURLOW, ESQ. TO THE LORD HIGH CHANCELLORSHIP OF ENGLAND
ON THE QUEEN’S VISIT TO LONDON THE NIGHT OF THE 17TH MARCH, 1789
ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER’S PICTURE OUT OF NORFOLK THE GIFT OF MY COUSIN ANN BODHAM
ON THE REED
ON THE SALT SEA
ON THE SAME
ON THE SAME
ON THE SAME
ON THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN LIFE.
ON THE SWALLOW
ON THE TRIAL OF ADMIRAL KEPPEL
ON THURLOW
ONE PARSON, ONE POET, ONE BELMAN, ONE CRIER
OVID. TRIST. LIB. V. ELEGY XII.
PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED A FABLE
PAPILIO ET LIMAX.
PHILAUTOS
PITY FOR POOR AFRICANS
PRUDENT SIMPLICITY
PSALM 114TH
PSALM CXXXVII
R. S. S.
R. S. S. WRITTEN IN A FIT OF ILLNESS
RECIPROCAL KINDNESS THE PRIMARY LAW OF NATURE.
REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OF THE BOOKS
REPOSE IN GOD
RETALIATION
RETIREMENT.
RIDDLE
SCENES FAVOURABLE TO MEDITATION
SEE WHERE THE THAMES
SELF-DIFFIDENCE
SELF-LOVE AND TRUTH INCOMPATIBLE
SIMPLE TRUST
SONG ALSO WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF LADY AUSTEN
SONG ON PEACE
SONG: NO MORE SHALL HAPLESS CELIA’S EARS
SONG: THE SPARKLING EYE, THE MANTLING CHEEK
SONNET ADDRESSED TO HENRY COWPER ESQ., CLERK ASSISTANT TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS
SONNET TO MRS. UNWIN
SONNET TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE ESQ.
SPARROWS SELF-DOMESTICATED IN TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
STANZAS ON THE LATE INDECENT LIBERTIES TAKEN WITH THE REMAINS OF THE GREAT MILTON
STANZAS PRINTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE YEARLY BILL OF MORTALITY OF THE TOWN OF NORTHAMPTON; DEC. 21, 1787
STRADA’S NIGHTINGALE.
SUNSET AND SUNRISE
SWEET MEAT HAS SOUR SAUCE
TABLE TALK.
THANKS FOR A GIFT OF PHEASANTS
THE ACQUIESCENCE OF PURE LOVE
THE BEE AND THE PINE-APPLE
THE CANTAB.
THE CASTAWAY
THE CAUSE WON.
THE COCK-FIGHTER’S GARLAND
THE COLUBRIAD
THE COTTAGER AND HIS LANDLORD. A FABLE
THE CRICKET.
THE DISTRESSED TRAVELLERS OR, LABOUR IN VAIN
THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN, SHOWING HOW HE WENT FARTHER THAN HE INTENDED, AND CAME SAFE HOME AGAIN
THE DOG AND THE WATER-LILY NO FABLE
THE DOVES
THE ENTIRE SURRENDER
THE EVILS OF BAD EXAMPLE
THE FAITHFUL FRIEND
THE FIFTH SATIRE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE : A HUMOROUS DESCRIPTION OF THE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY FROM ROME TO BRUNDUSIUM
THE FLATTING MILL
THE FOUR AGES (A BRIEF FRAGMENT OF AN EXTENSIVE PROJECTED POEM)
THE GLOWWORM.
THE GRIEF OF AN HEIR
THE INNOCENT THIEF.
THE JACKDAW.
THE JOY OF THE CROSS
THE JUDGMENT OF THE POETS
THE LILY AND THE ROSE
THE LOVE OF GOD THE END OF LIFE
THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED; OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED
THE MAZE.
THE MODERN PATRIOT
THE MORALIZER CORRECTED A TALE
THE MORNING DREAM
THE NATIVITY
THE NEAPOLITAN, GIOVANNI BATTISTA MANSO, MARQUIS OF VILLA, TO THE ENGLISHMAN, JOHN MILTON
THE NECESSITY OF SELF-ABASEMENT
THE NEEDLESS ALARM
THE NEGRO’S COMPLAINT
THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM
THE NINTH SATIRE OF THE FIRST BOOK OF HORACE: THE DESCRIPTION OF AN IMPERTINENT. ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT TIMES
THE PARROT.
THE PERFECT SACRIFICE
THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE KING
THE PINE-APPLE AND THE BEE
THE POEM TO LADY HESKETH
THE POET, THE OYSTER, AND SENSITIVE PLANT
THE POET’S NEW-YEAR’S GIFT TO MRS. THROCKMORTON
THE POPLAR- FIELD
THE PROGRESS OF ERROR.
THE RETIRED CAT
THE ROSE
THE SALAD BY VIRGIL
THE SCHOLAR AT HIS WITS’ END
THE SECRETS OF DIVINE LOVE ARE TO BE KEPT
THE SHRUBBERY, WRITTEN IN A TIME OF AFFLICTION
THE SILKWORM.
THE SNAIL.
THE SOUL THAT LOVES GOD FINDS HIM EVERYWHERE
THE SWALLOW
THE SYMPTOMS OF LOVE
THE TASK.
THE TEARS OF A PAINTER.
THE TESTIMONY OF DIVINE ADOPTION
THE THRACIAN.
THE TRIUMPH OF HEAVENLY LOVE DESIRED
THE VALEDICTION
THE VICISSITUDES EXPERIENCED IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
THE WINTER NOSEGAY
THE
YEARLY DISTRESS
THIS EV’NING, DELIA, YOU AND I
TIROCINIUM: A REVIEW FOR SCHOOLS
TO A FRIEND IN DISTRESS
TO A LADY WHO WORE A LOCK OF HIS HAIR SET WITH DIAMONDS
TO A YOUNG FRIEND ON HIS ARRIVING AT CAMBRIDGE WET, WHEN NO RAIN HAD FALLEN THERE
TO A YOUNG LADY WHO STOLE A PEN FROM THE PRINCE OF WALES’S STANDISH
TO CHARLES DIODATI
TO CHRISTINA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN, WITH CROMWELL’S PICTURE
TO DELIA
TO DEMOSTHENES
TO DR. AUSTIN, OF CECIL STREET, LONDON
TO ERASMUS
TO GEORGE ROMNEY, ESQ. ON HIS PICTURE OF ME IN CRAYONS, DRAWN AT EARTHAM
TO GIOVANNI BATTISTA MANSO, MARQUIS OF VILLA.
TO GIOVANNI SALZILLI, A ROMAN POET, IN HIS ILLNESS.
TO GRAVINA, ON HIS TRANSLATING THE AUTHOR’S SONG ON A ROSE INTO ITALIAN VERSE
TO HEALTH
TO JOHN JOHNSON ON HIS PRESENTING ME WITH AN ANTIQUE BUST OF HOMER
TO JOHN MILTON
TO LADY AUSTEN, WRITTEN IN RAINY WEATHER
TO LADY M. N. HIS PATRONESS
TO LEONORA SINGING AT ROME
TO LEONORA SINGING AT ROME II
TO MARY
TO MISS CREUZÉ ON HER BIRTHDAY
TO MR. JOHN MILTON OF LONDON
TO MR. JOHN ROUSE, LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
TO MRS. KING ON HER KIND PRESENT TO THE AUTHOR; A PATCH-WORK COUNTERPANE OF HER OWN MAKING
TO MRS. NEWTON.
TO MRS. THROCKMORTON ON HER BEAUTIFUL TRANSCRIPT OF HORACE’S ODE AD LIBRUM SUUM
TO MY COUSIN ANNE BODHAM ON RECEIVING FROM HER A NETWORK PURSE MADE BY HERSELF
TO MY FATHER
TO SIR JOHN FENN
TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF THE HALIBUT ON WHICH I DINED THIS DAY
TO THE NIGHTINGALE WHICH THE AUTHOR HEARD SING ON NEW-YEAR’S DAY, 1792
TO THE REV. MR. NEWTON
TO THE REV. MR. NEWTON, RECTOR OF ST. MARY, WOOLNOTH
TO THE REV. WILLIAM BULL
TO THE REV. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN
TO THE REVEREND MR. NEWTON ON HIS RETURN FROM RAMSGATE
TO WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. BY AN OLD SCHOOL FELLOW OF HIS AT WESTMINSTER
TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ.
TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ. IN REPLY TO HIS SOLICITATION TO WRITE WITH HIM IN A LITERARY WORK
TOM RABAN
TRANSLATION
TRANSLATION
TRANSLATION FROM VIRGIL. ÆNEID, BOOK VIII. LINE 18.
TRANSLATION OF A SIMILE IN PARADISE LOST.
TRANSLATION OF DRYDEN’S POEM ON MILTON.
TRANSLATION OF PRIOR’S CHLOE AND EUPHELIA
TRANSLATION ON THE ICE ISLANDS SEEN FLOATING IN THE GERMAN OCEAN
TRUTH AND DIVINE LOVE REJECTED BY THE WORLD
TRUTH.
UPON A VENERABLE RIVAL
V. JEHOVAH-SHALOM. THE LORD SEND PEACE. — JUDGES VI.24.
VERSE AND PROSE
VERSES SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SELKIRK, DURING HIS SOLITARY ABODE IN THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ
VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF DR. LLOYD (II).
VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF DR. LLOYD.
VERSES WRITTEN AT BATH ON FINDING THE HEEL OF A SHOE
VI. WISDOM. — PROVERBS VIII.22-31.
VII. VANITY OF THE WORLD.
VIII. O LORD, I WILL PRAISE THEE. — ISAIAH XII.1.
VOTUM
WATCHING UNTO GOD IN THE NIGHT SEASON
WHEN LITTLE MORE THAN BOY IN AGE
WRITTEN AFTER LEAVING HER AT NEW BURNS
WRITTEN IN A QUARREL, THE DELIVERY OF IT PREVENTED BY A RECONCILIATION
X. THE FUTURE PEACE AND GLORY OF THE CHURCH. — ISAIAH IX.15-20.
XI. JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. — JEREMIAH XXIII.6.
XII. EPHRAIM REPENTING. — JEREMIAH XXXI.18-20.
XIII. THE COVENANT. — EZEKIEL XXXVI.25-28.
XIV. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. — EZEKIEL XLVIII.35.
XIX. CONTENTMENT. — PHILIPPIANS IV.11.
XL. PEACE AFTER A STORM.
XLI. MOURNING AND LONGING.
XLII. SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.
XLIII. PRAYER FOR PATIENCE.
XLIV. SUBMISSION.
XLIX. TRUE PLEASURES.
XLV. THE HAPPY CHANGE.
XLVI. RETIREMENT.
XLVII. THE HIDDEN LIFE.
XLVIII. JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING.
XV. PRAISE FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPENED. — ZECHARIAH XIII.1.
XVI. THE SOWER. — MATTHEW XIII.3.
XVII. THE HOUSE OF PRAYER. — MARK XI.17.
XVIII. LOVEST THOU ME? — JOHN XXI.16.
XX. OLD TESTAMENT GOSPEL. — HEBREWS IV.2.
XXI. SARDIS. — REVELATION III.1-6.
XXII. PRAYER FOR A BLESSING ON THE YOUNG.
XXIII. PLEADING FOR AND WITH YOUTH.
XXIV. PRAYER FOR CHILDREN.
XXIX. EXHORTATION TO PRAYER.
XXV. JEHOVAH JESUS.
XXVI. ON OPENING A PLACE FOR SOCIAL PRAYER.
XXVII. WELCOME TO THE TABLE.
XXVIII. JESUS HASTING TO SUFFER.
XXX. THE LIGHT AND GLORY OF THE WORD.
XXXI. ON THE DEATH OF A MINISTER.
XXXII. THE SHINING LIGHT.
XXXIII. SEEKING THE BELOVED.
XXXIV. THE WAITING SOUL.
XXXIX. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH.
XXXV. WELCOME CROSS.
XXXVI. AFFLICTIONS SANCTIFIED BY THE WORD.
XXXVII. TEMPTATION.
XXXVIII. LOOKING UPWARDS IN A STORM.
YARDLEY OAK
The Epic Poems
The site of Nathaniel Cotton’s asylum, Lower Dagnall Street, St. Albans — in 1763 Cowper was offered a Clerkship of Journals in the House of Lords, but broke under the strain of the approaching examination and experienced a period of insanity. At this time he tried three times to commit suicide and was sent to an asylum in St. Albans for recovery.
The Iliad
CONTENTS
PREFACE.
PREFACE PREPARED BY MR. COWPER, FOR A SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE BY J. JOHNSON, LL.B.
ADVERTISEMENT TO SOUTHEY’S EDITION
EDITOR’S NOTE.
ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.
BOOK I.
ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK.
BOOK II.
ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.
BOOK III.
ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
BOOK IV.
ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
BOOK V.
ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTH BOOK.
BOOK VI.
ARGUMENT OF THE SEVENTH BOOK.
BOOK VII.
ARGUMENT OF THE EIGHTH BOOK.
BOOK VIII.
ARGUMENT OF THE NINTH BOOK.
BOOK IX.
ARGUMENT OF THE TENTH BOOK.
BOOK X.
ARGUMENT OF THE ELEVENTH BOOK.
BOOK XI.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWELFTH BOOK.
BOOK XII.
ARGUMENT OF THE THIRTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XIII.
ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XIV.
ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XV.
ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XVI.
ARGUMENT OF THE SEVENTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XVII.
ARGUMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XVIII.
ARGUMENT OF THE NINETEENTH BOOK.
BOOK XIX.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTIETH BOOK.
BOOK XX.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-FIRST BOOK.
BOOK XXI.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-SECOND BOOK.
BOOK XXII.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-THIRD BOOK.
BOOK XXIII.
ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH BOOK.
BOOK XXIV.
TO THE
RIGHT HO
NORABLE
EARL COWPER,
THIS
TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD,
THE INSCRIPTION OF WHICH TO HIMSELF,
THE LATE LAMENTED EARL,
BENEVOLENT TO ALL,
AND ESPECIALLY KIND TO THE AUTHOR,
HAD NOT DISDAINED TO ACCEPT
IS HUMBLY OFFERED,
AS A SMALL BUT GRATEFUL TRIBUTE,
TO THE MEMORY OF HIS FATHER,
BY HIS LORDSHIP’S
AFFECTIONATE KINSMAN AND SERVANT
WILLIAM COWPER.
June 4, 1791.
PREFACE.
Whether a translation of Homer may be best executed in blank verse or in rhyme, is a question in the decision of which no man can find difficulty, who has ever duly considered what translation ought to be, or who is in any degree practically acquainted with those very different kinds of versification. I will venture to assert that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme, is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sense of his original. The translator’s ingenuity, indeed, in this case becomes itself a snare, and the readier he is at invention and expedient, the more likely he is to be betrayed into the widest departures from the guide whom he professes to follow. Hence it has happened, that although the public have long been in possession of an English Homer by a poet whose writings have done immortal honor to his country, the demand of a new one, and especially in blank verse, has been repeatedly and loudly made by some of the best judges and ablest writers of the present day.
I have no contest with my predecessor. None is supposable between performers on different instruments. Mr. Pope has surmounted all difficulties in his version of Homer that it was possible to surmount in rhyme. But he was fettered, and his fetters were his choice. Accustomed always to rhyme, he had formed to himself an ear which probably could not be much gratified by verse that wanted it, and determined to encounter even impossibilities, rather than abandon a mode of writing in which he had excelled every body, for the sake of another to which, unexercised in it as he was, he must have felt strong objections.
I number myself among the warmest admirers of Mr. Pope as an original writer, and I allow him all the merit he can justly claim as the translator of this chief of poets. He has given us the Tale of Troy divine in smooth verse, generally in correct and elegant language, and in diction often highly poetical. But his deviations are so many, occasioned chiefly by the cause already mentioned, that, much as he has done, and valuable as his work is on some accounts, it was yet in the humble province of a translator that I thought it possible even for me to fellow him with some advantage.
William Cowper- Collected Poetical Works Page 84
