William Cowper

"The Saviour hides his face!     My spirit thirsts to prove     Renewd supplies of pardoning grace,     And never-fading love.     The favou"

"A raven, while with glossy breast     Her new-laid eggs she fondly pressd,     And, on her wicker-work high mounted,     Her chickens prematur"

"Ye nymphs! if e'er your eyes were red     With tears o'er hapless favourites shed,     O share Maria's grief!     Her favourite, even in his ca"

"ARGUMENT     Ulysses discovers himself to the Phacians, and begins the history of his adventures. He destroys Ismarus, city of the Ciconians; a"

"When the blest seed of Terah's faithful Son,[1]     After long toil their liberty had won,     And past from Pharian[2] fields to Canaan Land,"

"Argument Of The Thirteenth Book.     Neptune engages on the part of the Grecians. The battle proceeds. Deiphobus advances to combat, but is re"

"Lord, who hast sufferd all for me,     My peace and pardon to procure,     The lighter cross I bear for thee,     Help me with patience to end"

"Madam,A strangers purpose in these lays     Is to congratulate, and not to praise.     To give the creature the Creators due     Were sin in"

"Hence, my epistle--skim the Deep--fly o'er     Yon smooth expanse to the Teutonic shore!     Haste--lest a friend should grieve for thy delay--"

"Rebellion is my theme all day;     I only wish twould come     (As who knows but perhaps it may?)     A little nearer home.     Yon roaring"

"Obscurest night involved the sky,     The Atlantic billows roard,     When such a destined wretch as I,     Washd headlong from on board,"

"So thenthe Vandals of our isle,     Sworn foes to sense and law,     Have burnt to dust a nobler pile     Than ever Roman saw!     And Murr"

"She cameshe is gonewe have met     And meet perhaps never again;     The sun of that moment is set,     And seems to have risen in vain."

"The twentieth year is well nigh past     Since first our sky was overcast;     Ah! would that this might be the last!     My Mary!     Thy s"

"A poets cat, sedate and grave     As poet well could wish to have,     Was much addicted to inquire     For nooks to which she might retire,"

"Ere God had built the mountains,     Or raised the fruitful hills;     Before he filld the fountains     That feed the running rills;     In"

"ARGUMENT     Minerva designing an interview between the daughter of Alcinos and Ulysses, admonishes her in a dream to carry down her clothes to"

"ARGUMENT     Ulysses, with some little assistance from Telemachus, Eumus and Philoetius, slays all the suitors, and twelve of the female servan"

"Where Humber pours his rich commercial stream     There dwelt a wretch, who breathed but to blaspheme;     In subterraneous caves his life he le"

"Kinsman beloved, and as a son, by me!     When I behold the fruit of thy regard,     The sculptured form of my old favourite bard,     I revere"

"What various hindrances we meet     In coming to a mercy-seat!     Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,     But wishes to be often there?"

"June 22, 1782.     My dear Friend,     If reading verse be your delight,     Tis mine as much, or more, to write;     But what we would, so wea"

"ARGUMENT     Ulysses, in pursuit of his narrative, relates his arrival at the island of olus, his departure thence, and the unhappy occasion of"

"ARGUMENT     Ulysses, doubting whether he shall destroy or not the women servants who commit lewdness with the suitors, resolves at length to sp"

"ARGUMENT     Telemachus returns to the city, and relates to his mother the principal passages of his voyage; Ulysses, conducted by Eumus, arriv"

"When wit and genius meet their doom     In all-devouring flame,     They tell us of the fate of Rome,     And bid us fear the same.     Oer"

"Argument Of The First Book.     The book opens with an account of a pestilence that prevailed in the Grecian camp, and the cause of it is assi"

"ARGUMENT     Mercury conducts the souls of the suitors down to Ades. Ulysses discovers himself to Laertes, and quells, by the aid of Minerva, an"

"O that those lips had language! Life has passd     With me but roughly since I heard thee last.     Those lips are thinethy own sweet smile I"

"The birds put off their every hue     To dress a room for Montagu.     The peacock sends his heavenly dyes,     His rainbows and his starry eye"

"Though once a puppy, and though Fop by name,     Here moulders one whose bones some honour claim.     No sycophant, although of spaniel race,"

"A nightingale, that all day long     Had cheerd the village with his song,     Nor yet at eve his note suspended,     Nor yet when eventide wa"

"The lapse of time and rivers is the same,     Both speed their journey with a restless stream;     The silent pace, with which they steal away,"

"In Returning A Poem Of Mr. Cowpers, Lent To The Writer, On Condition She Should Neither Show It Nor Take A Copy.     What wonder! if my waveri"

"The Saviour, what a noble flame     Was kindled in his breast,     When hasting to Jerusalem,     He marchd before the rest.     Good-will"

"Time was when I was free as air,     The thistles downy seed my fare,     My drink the morning dew;     I perchd at will on every spray,"

"Argument Of The Fifth Book.     Diomede is extraordinarily distinguished. He kills Pandarus, who had violated the truce, and wounds first Venu"

"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"

"Argument Of The Ninth Book.     By advice of Nestor, Agamemnon sends Ulysses, Phoenix, and Ajax to the tent of Achilles with proposals of reco"

"Come, peace of mind, delightful guest!     Return, and make thy downy nest     Once more in this sad heart:     Nor riches I nor power pursue,"

"O sovereign of an isle renownd     For undisputed sway,     Wherever oer yon gulf profound     Her navies wing their way,     With juster"

"Si quid loquar audiendam.Hor. Lib. iv. Od. 2.     Sing, muse (if such a theme, so dark, so long     May find a muse to grace it with a song"

"My rose, Gravina, blooms anew,     And steepd not now in rain,     But in Castilian streams by you,     Will never fade again."

"Pause here and think: a monitory rhyme     Demands one moment of thy fleeting time.     Consult lifes silent clock, thy bounding vein;     See"

"Deem not, sweet rose, that bloomst midst many a thorn,     Thy friend, though to a cloisters shade consignd,     Can eer forget the charms"

"My God, how perfect are thy ways!     But mine polluted are;     Sin twines itself about my praise,     And slides into my prayer.     When"

"Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain,     Hears thee by cruel men and impious calld     Fanatic, for thy zeal to loose the enthralld"

"How many between east and west     Disgrace their parent earth,     Whose deeds constrain us to detest     The day that gave them birth!     N"

"Grace, triumphant in the throne,     Scorns a rival, reigns alone;     Come and bow beneath her sway,     Cast your idol works away.     Works"

"O Lord, my best desire fulfil,     And help me to resign     Life, health, and comfort to thy will,     And make thy pleasure mine.     Why"

"Argument Of The Seventeenth Book.     Sharp contest ensues around the body of Patroclus. Hector puts on the armor of Achilles. Menelaus, havin"

"O God, whose favourable eye     The sin-sick soul revives,     Holy and heavenly is the joy     Thy shining presence gives.     Not such as"

"Dear Anna,Between friend and friend     Prose answers every common end;     Serves, in a plain and homely way,     To express the occurrence o"

"ARGUMENT     Telemachus, admonished by Minerva, takes leave of Menelaus, but ere he sails, is accosted by Theoclymenos, a prophet of Argos, whom"

"Tis not that I design to rob     Thee of thy birthright, gentle Bob,     For thou art born sole heir, and single,     Of dear Mat Priors easy"

"Gracious Lord, our children see,     By thy mercy we are free;     But shall these, alas! remain     Subjects still of Satans reign?     Isra"

"Doceas iter, et sacra ostia pandas.     - Virg. Aen. 6.     Ask what is human lifethe sage replies,     With disappointment lowering in his"

"As one who, long in thickets and in brakes     Entangled, winds now this way and now that     His devious course uncertain, seeking home;     O"

"ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTH BOOK.     The battle is continued. The Trojans being closely pursued, Hector by the advice of Helenus enters Troy, and r"

"Ye sons of earth, prepare the plough,     Break up the fallow ground;     The sower is gone forth to sow,     And scatter blessings round."