The British Poets: William Cowper.
COWPER, William.
The British Poets: William Cowper.
The Extra-Illustrated Crown edition of The Poems of William Cowper
London: British Literary Society, n.d.
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Item Number: 151508
The extra-illustrated Crown edition of the poems of William Cowper, limited to ten numbered and registered sets. Duodecimo, two volumes, publisher’s exquisite deluxe full morocco binding with gilt titles and elaborate botanical gilt tooling to the spine in four compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling and elaborate botanical gilt decorations to the front and rear panels, ivory and green floral inlays to the spine and panels, full morocco doublures elaborately decorated in gilt, silk-watered endleaves, all edges gilt, ribbons bound in, extra-illustrated with tissue-guarded hand-coloured plates. In near fine condition.
English poet William Cowper’s work marked a significant transition from the neoclassical conventions of the eighteenth century to a more personal and introspective poetic mode that anticipated Romanticism. His poetry emphasized themes of nature, domestic life, and religious reflection, shaped in part by his evangelical beliefs and experiences with mental illness. In The Task (1785), Cowper employed blank verse to explore everyday subjects with a conversational tone, thereby expanding the scope of poetic expression beyond traditional classical models. His contributions to the Olney Hymns (1779) further demonstrated his capacity for combining spiritual seriousness with lyrical clarity. Cowper’s work exerted a notable influence on later poets, particularly William Wordsworth, who shared his interest in ordinary experience and emotional authenticity.
