Cowper (Classic Reprint): Poetry Prose: Poetry Prose (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Cowper: Poetry Prose

Why is Cowper still read Not for his outworn system of theology, nor for his thought in nature-poetry Words worth far surpassed him; his lyrics pale in the light of Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning; Byron has shown how satire should be written. And yet Cowper remains a fixed star, shining as steadily now as he shone when his first volume appeared nearly 140 years ago. At first his popularity may have owed something to his connexion with Newton and the Evangelical party, but that special cause has long since ceased to operate in his favour, and his insistence on certain definite dogmas tends to repel instead of attract most of his modern readers. It is true, too, that his two volumes appeared (in 1782 and 1785) at a barren time, and in consequence gained an immediate and almost undisputed hearing; but this is now only of historical interest, and does not explain his continued popularity.

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