Cowper: The task, with Tirocinium, and selections from the minor poems, A.D. 1784-1799Clarendon Press, 1874 |
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Page 13
... beauty , her fertility . She dreads 370 An instant's pause , and lives but while she moves ; Its own revolvency upholds the world . Winds from all quarters agitate the air , And fit the limpid element for use , Else noxious : oceans ...
... beauty , her fertility . She dreads 370 An instant's pause , and lives but while she moves ; Its own revolvency upholds the world . Winds from all quarters agitate the air , And fit the limpid element for use , Else noxious : oceans ...
Page 15
... Beauty , when no cause 455 For such immeasurable woe appears , These Flora banishes , and gives the fair 460 Sweet smiles , and bloom less transient than her own . It is the constant revolution , stale And tasteless , of the same ...
... Beauty , when no cause 455 For such immeasurable woe appears , These Flora banishes , and gives the fair 460 Sweet smiles , and bloom less transient than her own . It is the constant revolution , stale And tasteless , of the same ...
Page 22
... beauty to a stone , And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips . Nor does the chisel occupy alone 705 The powers of sculpture , but the style as much ; Each province of her art her equal care . With nice incision of her guided steel She ...
... beauty to a stone , And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips . Nor does the chisel occupy alone 705 The powers of sculpture , but the style as much ; Each province of her art her equal care . With nice incision of her guided steel She ...
Page 28
... , And roofs embattled high , the gloomy scenes Where beauty oft and lettered worth consume Life in the unproductive shades of death , 100 105 110 115 120 Fall prone ; the pale inhabitants come forth , And 28 THE TASK . II .
... , And roofs embattled high , the gloomy scenes Where beauty oft and lettered worth consume Life in the unproductive shades of death , 100 105 110 115 120 Fall prone ; the pale inhabitants come forth , And 28 THE TASK . II .
Page 36
... eyes , When I am hungry for the bread of life ? He mocks his Maker , prostitutes and shames His noble office , and , instead of truth , 425 Displaying his own beauty , starves his flock ! Therefore 36 THE TASK . II .
... eyes , When I am hungry for the bread of life ? He mocks his Maker , prostitutes and shames His noble office , and , instead of truth , 425 Displaying his own beauty , starves his flock ! Therefore 36 THE TASK . II .
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Common terms and phrases
beneath boast Bodham Bonnell Thornton breath called cause charms Clifton Reynes Cowper death delight died divine dream earth ease East Dereham Emberton fair fame Fancy fear feel flowers folly frown give glory grace hackney hand happy hast Hayley heard heart Heaven honour John Gilpin king labour Lady Austen Lady Hesketh less live lost Matthew Green Middle Temple mind Nature Nature's Nebaioth never Newton nymphs o'er Olney Olney Hymns once Ormus peace perhaps pleasure poem Poet Poet's praise proud scene sedans seek seems shine slaves smile smooth Sofa song soon sound spirit sweet task taste thee theme thine thou art Throckmorton toil truth Unwin verse virtue Westminster School Weston Weston Underwood William Cowper wind winter wisdom wish wonder worth wrote ΙΟ
Popular passages
Page 73 - Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
Page 26 - OH for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade, Where rumour of oppression and deceit, Of unsuccessful or successful war, Might never reach me more...
Page 201 - I see, The same that oft in childhood solaced me; Voice only fails, else how distinct they say, ' Grieve not, my child, chase all thy fears away!
Page 134 - I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
Page 140 - One song employs all nations ; and all cry " Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us-! " The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From distant mountains catch the flying joy ; Till, nation after nation taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round.
Page 202 - Dupe of to-morrow even from a child. Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went, Till all my stock of infant sorrow spent, I learned at last submission to my lot, But, though I less deplored thee, ne'er forgot. Where once we dwelt our name is heard no more, Children not thine have trod my nursery floor ; And where the gardener, Robin, day by day, Drew me to school along the public way, Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapped In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet cap, 'Tis now become a history little...
Page 27 - I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earned.
Page 203 - I seem to have lived my childhood o'er again ; To have renewed the joys that once were mine, Without the sin of violating thine : And, while the wings of Fancy still are free, And I can view this mimic show of thee, Time has but half succeeded in his theft — Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left.
Page 56 - In the pure fountain of eternal love, Has eyes indeed ; and, viewing all she sees As meant to indicate a God to man, Gives him his praise, and forfeits not her own.
Page 203 - Where spices breathe, and brighter seasons smile, There sits quiescent on the floods, that show Her beauteous form reflected clear below, While airs impregnated with incense play Around her, fanning light her streamers gay, — So thou, with sails how swift ! hast reached the shore "Where tempests never beat, nor billows roar;" And thy loved consort on the dangerous tide Of life long since has anchored by thy side.