William Cowper

"ARGUMENT     Telemachus having convened an assembly of the Greecians, publicly calls on the Suitors to relinquish the house of Ulysses. During t"

"My song shall bless the Lord of all,     My praise shall climb to his abode;     Thee, Saviour, by that name I call,     The great Supreme, the"

"Tis my happiness below     Not to live without the cross,     But the Saviours power to know,     Sanctifying every loss:     Trials must an"

"The greenhouse is my summer seat;     My shrubs displaced from that retreat     Enjoyd the open air;     Two goldfinches, whose sprightly song"

"Also written at the request of Lady Austen.     AirThe Lass of Peaties Mill.     When all within is peace,     How Nature seems to smil"

"Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,         The spectacles set them unhappily wrong;     The point in dispute was, as all the world k"

"How quick the change from joy to woe,     How chequerd is our lot below!     Seldom we view the prospect fair;     Dark clouds of sorrow, pain"

"An Oyster, cast upon the shore,     Was heard, though never heard before,     Complaining in a speech well worded,     And worthy thus to be re"

"ARGUMENT     Ulysses, having finished his narrative, and received additional presents from the Phacians, embarks; he is conveyed in his sleep t"

"Dear Lord! accept a sinful heart,     Which of itself complains,     And mourns, with much and frequent smart,     The evil it contains."

"'Tis morning; and the sun, with ruddy orb     Ascending, fires the horizon; while the clouds,     That crowd away before the driving wind,"

"As yet a stranger to the gentle fires     That Amathusia's smiling Queen[2] inspires,     Not seldom I derided Cupid's darts,     And scorn'd h"

"God of my life, to thee I call,     Afflicted at thy feet I fall;     When the great water-floods prevail,[1]     Leave not my trembling heart"

"Weak and irresolute is man;     The purpose of to-day,     Woven with pains into his plan,     To-morrow rends away.     The bow well bent,"

"Reader! behold a monument     That asks no sigh or tear,     Though it perpetuate the event     Of a great burial here.     June 1790. Anno 17"

"Dear President, whose art sublime     Gives perpetuity to time,     And bids transactions of a day,     That fleeting hours would waft away"

"Silent I sat, dejected, and alone, Making in thought the public woes my own, When, first, arose the image in my breast Of England's sufferings by that"

"Unwin, I should but ill repay     The kindness of a friend,     Whose worth deserves as warm a lay     As ever friendship pennd,     Thy name"

"I ransackd for a theme of song,     Much ancient chronicle, and long;     I read of bright embattled fields,     Of trophied helmets, spears,"

"A hermit (or if chance you hold     That title now too trite and old),     A man, once young, who lived retired     As hermit could have well"

"Laurels may flourish round the conquerors tomb,     But happiest they who win the world to come:     Believers have a silent field to fight,"

"Israel, in ancient days,     Not only had a view     Of Sinai in a blaze,     But learnd the Gospel too;     The types and figures were a gla"

"Angelus unicuique suus (sic credite gentes)          Obtigit aethereis ales ab ordinibus.     Quid mirum? Leonora tibi si gloria major,"

"What virtue, or what mental grace     But men unqualified and base     Will boast it their possession?     Profusion apes the noble part     O"

"Poets attempt the noblest task they can,     Praising the Author of all good in man,     And, next, commemorating worthies lost,     The dead i"

"In Scotlands realms, where trees are few,     Nor even shrubs abound;     But where, however bleak the view,     Some better things are found;"

"Bestow, dear Lord, upon our youth     The gift of saving grace;     And let the seed of sacred truth     Fall in a fruitful place.     Grace"

"Come, ponder well, for tis no jest,     To laugh it would be wrong,     The troubles of a worthy priest,     The burden of my song.     Thi"

"That ocean you have late surveyd,     Those rocks I too have seen;     But I, afflicted and dismayd,     You, tranquil and serene.     You"

"Dear architect of fine chateaux in air,     Worthier to stand for ever, if they could,     Than any built of stone or yet of wood,     For back"

"To purify their wine, some people bleed     A lamb into the barrel, and succeed;     No nostrum, planters say, is half so good     To make fine"

"Quales aerii montis de vertice nubes     Cum surgunt, et jam Boreae tumida ora quierunt,     Caelum hilares abdit spissa caligine vultus,     N"

"God gives his mercies to be spent;     Your hoard will do your soul no good;     Gold is a blessing only lent,     Repaid by giving others food"

"This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears,     Built as it has been in our waning years,     A rest afforded to our weary feet,     Preliminary to"

"Austin! accept a grateful verse from me,     The poets treasure, no inglorious fee.     Loved by the muses, thy ingenuous mind     Pleasing re"

"The nymph must lose her female friend,     If more admired than she     But where will fierce contention end,     If flowers can disagree?"

"Jesus, whose blood so freely streamd,     To satisfy the laws demand;     By thee from guilt and wrath redeemd,     Before the Fathers face"

"Fierce passions discompose the mind,     As tempests vex the sea:     But calm content and peace we find,     When, Lord, we turn to thee."

"Cowper had sinnd with some excuse,     If, bound in rhyming tethers,     He had committed this abuse     Of changing ewes for wethers;[1]"

"Argument Of The Twelfth Book.      The Trojans assail the ramparts, and Hector forces the gates.      So was Menoetius' gallant son employ"

"Reasoning at every step he treads,     Man yet mistakes his way;     While meaner things, whom instinct leads,     Are rarely known to stray."

"Twas in the glad season of spring,     Asleep at the dawn of the day,     I dreamd what I cannot but sing,     So pleasant it seemd as I lay"

"Two Poets[1] (poets, by report,     Not oft so well agree),     Sweet harmonist of Floras court!     Conspire to honour thee.     They best"

"Fortune! I thank thee: gentle goddess! thanks!     Not that my muse, though bashful, shall deny     She would have thankd thee rather hadst tho"

"Argument Of The Tenth Book.      Diomede and Ulysses enter the Trojan host by night, and slay Rhesus.      All night the leaders of the ho"

"To tell the Saviour all my wants,     How pleasing is the task!     Nor less to praise him when he grants     Beyond what I can ask.     My"

"Argument Of The Second Book.     Jupiter, in pursuance of his purpose to distress the Grecians in answer to the prayer of Thetis, deceives Aga"

"Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are,     Waiting to feel thy touch:     Deep-wounded souls to thee repair,     And, Saviour, we are such.     Our"

"Sin enslaved me many years,     And led me bound and blind;     Till at length a thousand fears     Came swarming oer my mind.     Where,"

"What portents, from what distant region, ride,     Unseen till now in ours, the astonishd tide?     In ages past, old Proteus, with his droves"

"O Friendship! cordial of the human breast!     So little felt, so fervently professd!     Thy blossoms deck our unsuspecting years;     The pr"

"Survey my Features--you will own it clear     That little skill has been exerted here.     My Friends, who know me not here smile to see     Ho"

"Thus says the prophet of the Turk,     Good Mussulman, abstain from pork;     There is a part in every swine     No friend of follower of mine"

"Ah, how the Human Mind wearies herself     With her own wand'rings, and, involved in gloom     Impenetrable, speculates amiss!     Measuring, i"

"I should have deemd it once an effort vain     To sweeten more sweet Maros matchless strain,     But from that error now behold me free,"

"The Spirit breathes upon the Word,     And brings the truth to sight;     Precepts and promises afford     A sanctifying light.     A glory"

"Musehide his name of whom I sing,     Lest his surviving house thou bring     For his sake into scorn,     Nor speak the school from which he"

"The pine-apples, in triple row,     Were basking hot, and all in blow;     A bee of most discerning taste     Perceived the fragrance as he pas"

"Ye sister Pow'rs who o'er the sacred groves     Preside, and, Thou, fair mother of them all     Mnemosyne,[1] and thou, who in thy grot     Imm"

"Sweet stream that winds through yonder glade,     Apt emblem of a virtuous maid     Silent and chaste she steals along,     Far from the world"