William Cowper

"Could Homer come himself, distressd and poor,     And tune his harp at Rhedicinas door,     The rich old vixen would exclaim (I fear),     B"

"ARGUMENT     Telemachus arriving at Pylus, enquires of Nestor concerning Ulysses. Nestor relates to him all that he knows or has heard of the Gr"

"Winter has a joy for me,     While the Saviours charms I read,     Lowly, meek, from blemish free,     In the snowdrops pensive head."

"A. You told me, I remember, glory, built     On selfish principles, is shame and guilt;     The deeds that men admire as half divine,     Stark"

"Written When The News Arrived. To the March in Scipio.     Toll for the brave!     The brave that are no more;     All sunk beneath the wave,"

"Dear Joseph,--five and twenty years ago--     Alas, how time escapes!--'tis even so--     With frequent intercourse, and always sweet     And a"

"I     Fair Lady, whose harmonious name the Rheno          Through all his grassy vale delights to hear,          Base were, indeed, the wretch, wh"

"Cocoa-nut naught,     Fish too dear,     None must be bought     For us that are here:     No lobster on earth,     That ever I saw,     T"

"Almighty King! whose wondrous hand     Supports the weight of sea and land,     Whose grace is such a boundless store,     No heart shall break"

"Learn ye nations of the earth     The condition of your birth,     Now be taught your feeble state,     Know, that all must yield to Fate!"

"Argument Of The Fourteenth Book.     Agamemnon and the other wounded Chiefs taking Nestor with them, visit the battle. Juno having borrowed th"

"Ne commonentem recta sperne.Buchanan.     Despise not my good counsel.     He who sits from day to day     Where the prisond lark is hung"

"There was a time when tnas silent fire     Slept unperceived, the mountain yet entire;     When, conscious of no danger from below,     She t"

"In language warm as could be breathed or pennd     Thy picture speaks the original, my friend,     Not by those looks that indicate thy mind"

"Hark! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge,     That with its wearisome but needful length     Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moo"

"Strophe I      My two-fold Book! single in show          But double in Contents,      Neat, but not curiously adorn'd          Which in his early"

"Nam neque me tantum venientis sibilus austri,     Nec percussa juvant fluctu tam litora, nec quae     Saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles."

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

"Hear, Lord, the song of praise and prayer,     In heaven thy dwelling-place,     From infants, made the public care,     And taught to seek thy"

"What Nature, alas! has denied     To the delicate growth of our isle,     Art has in a measure supplied,     And winter is deckd with a smile."

"ARGUMENT     Nausicaa returns from the river, whom Ulysses follows. He halts, by her direction, at a small distance from the palace, which at a"

"Spoken At The Westminster Election Next After His Decease.     Our good old friend is gone; gone to his rest,     Whose social converse was it"

"Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,     Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum     Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari!Virg."

"My soul is sad, and much dismayd,     See, Lord, what legions of my foes,     With fierce Apollyon at their head,     My heavenly pilgrimage o"

"A New Song, to a Tune never sung before.     I sing of a journey to Clifton,[1]     We would have performed, if we could;     Without cart or"

"How blest thy creature is, O God,     When, with a single eye,     He views the lustre of thy word,     The dayspring from on high!     Thro"

"At length, my friend, the far-sent letters come,     Charged with thy kindness, to their destin'd home,     They come, at length, from Deva's[2]"

"Gothou art all unfit to share     The pleasures of this place     With such as its old tenants are,     Creatures of gentler race.     The"

"Argument Of The Eleventh Book.     Agamemnon distinguishes himself. He is wounded, and retires. Diomede is wounded by Paris; Ulysses by Socus."

"Hayleythy tenderness fraternal shown     In our first interview, delightful guest!     To Mary, and me for her dear sake distressd,     Such"

"Of all the gifts thine hand bestows,     Thou Giver of all good!     Not heaven itself a richer knows     Than my Redeemers blood.     Fait"

"Maria! I have every good     For thee wishd many a time,     Both sad, and in a cheerful mood,     But never yet in rhyme.     To wish thee"

"The Genius of the Augustan age     His head among Romes ruins reard,     And, bursting with heroic rage,     When literary Heron appeard;"

"Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,     O my people, faint and few,     Comfortless, afflicted, broken,     Fair abodes I build for you;"

"Me too, perchance, in future days,     The sculptured stone shall show,     With Paphian myrtle or with bays     Parnassian on my brow."

"These are not dewdrops, these are tears,     And tears by Sally shed     For absent Robin, who she fears,     With too much cause, is dead."

"Drawn at Eartham in the 61st year of my age, and in the months of August and September 1792.     Romney, expert infallibly to trace     On cha"

"John Gilpin was a citizen      Of credit and renown,     A train-band captain eke was he      Of famous London town.     John Gilpin's spouse"

"This is the feast of heavenly wine,     And God invites to sup;     The juices of the living vine     Were pressd to fill the cup.     Oh!"

"The Argument.          Thyrsis and Damon, shepherds and neighbours, had always pursued the same"

"Argument Of The Twentieth Book.     By permission of Jupiter the Gods descend into the battle, and range themselves on either side respectivel"

"Hear, Lord, the song of praise and prayer     In heaven thy dwelling-place,     From infants made the public care,     And taught to seek thy f"

"(in the manner of homer.)     The straw-stuffd hamper with his ruthless steel     He opend, cutting sheer th inserted cords     Which boun"

"ARGUMENT     Telemachus dispatches Eumus to the city to inform Penelope of his safe return from Pylus; during his absence, Ulysses makes himsel"

"Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos          Ausus es infandum perfide Fauxe nefas,     Fallor? an & mitis voluisti ex parte videri,"

"Argument Of The Twenty-Second Book.      Achilles slays Hector.      Thus they, throughout all Troy, like hunted fawns      Dispersed, th"

"Pensantur trutinHor. Lib. ii. Ep. 1.     Man, on the dubious waves of error tossd,     His ship half founderd, and his compass lost,"

"I will praise thee every day,     Now thine angers turnd away!     Comfortable thoughts arise     From the bleeding Sacrifice.     Here in"

"My gentle Anne, whom heretofore,     When I was young, and thou no more     Than plaything for a nurse,     I danced and fondled on my knee,"

"There is in souls a sympathy with sounds,     And as the mind is pitched the ear is pleased     With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave;"

"The new-born child of gospel grace,     Like some fair tree when summers nigh,     Beneath Emmanuels shining face     Lifts up his blooming b"

"My God, till I received thy stroke,     How like a beast was I!     So unaccustomd to the yoke,     So backward to comply.     With grief m"

"Write to Sardis, saith the Lord,     And write what he declares,     He whose Spirit, and whose word,     Upholds the seven stars:     All"

"Lord, my soul with pleasure springs,     When Jesus name I hear;     And when God the Spirit brings     The word of promise near:     Beautie"

"Argument Of The Third Book.     The armies meet. Paris throws out a challenge to the Grecian Princes. Menelaus accepts it. The terms of the co"

"Am pius extrema veniens Jacobus ab arcto     Teucrigenas populos, lateque patentia regna     Albionum tenuit, jamque inviolabile foedus     Sce"

"Argument Of The Eighteenth Book.     Achilles, by command of Juno, shows himself to the Trojans, who fly at his appearance; Vulcan, at the ins"

"The Lord proclaims his grace abroad!     Behold, I change your hearts of stone;     Each shall renounce his idol-god,     And serve, henceforth"

"ARGUMENT     Penelope proposes to the suitors a contest with the bow, herself the prize. They prove unable to bend the bow; when Ulysses having"

"My former hopes are fled,     My terror now begins;     I feel, alas! that I am dead     In trespasses and sins.     Ah, whither shall I fly"