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Surprised by Heaven
‘Mrs Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading’, by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926).
‘Mrs Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading’, painted in 1876 by American impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Cowper’s vivacious friend Lady Austen once teasingly suggested he write a poem on the subject of ‘the sofa’, and he responded with The Task, a masterpiece of English verse of over 5,000 lines that takes the reader out of the house, into the garden and away on a winter’s walk. These were some of the happiest times of his life.
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‘Mrs Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading’, painted in 1876 by American impressionist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Cowper’s vivacious friend Lady Austen once teasingly suggested he write a poem on the subject of ‘the sofa’, and he responded with The Task, a masterpiece of English verse of over 5,000 lines that takes the reader out of the house, into the garden and away on a winter’s walk. These were some of the happiest times of his life.
Introduction
In 1853, Frederick Maurice was deprived of the Chair of Theology at King’s College, London for his unorthodox opinions. Undeterred, he and fellow enthusiasts including Charles Kingsley applied themselves strenuously to the moral education of working men. Three years on Maurice was in Ellesmere, Shropshire, giving a lecture on ‘The Friendship of Books’ in which he drew attention to the life of poet William Cowper.
WILLIAM Cowper inspired much friendship among men, and still more among women, during his lifetime; they found him the pleasantest of all companions in his bright hours, and they did not desert him in his dark hours. His books have been friends to a great many since he left the earth, because they exhibit him very faithfully in both; some of his letters and some of his poems being full of mirth and quiet gladness, some of them revealing awful struggles and despair. Whatever estimate may be formed of his poetry in comparison with that of earlier or later writers, every one must feel that his English is that of a scholar and a gentleman — that he had the purest enjoyment of domestic life, and of what one may call the domestic or still life of nature. One is sure also that he had the most earnest faith, which he cherished for others when he could find no comfort in it for himself. These would be sufficient explanations of the interest which he has awakened in so many simple and honest readers who turn to books for sympathy and fellowship, and do not like a writer at all the worse because he also demands their sympathy with him.
William Cowper (1731-1800), pronounced ‘cooper’, was a distinguished poet and classicist, whose simple style, homely themes and autobiographical candour broke new ground in English verse. Educated at Westminster School in London, he experienced a nervous breakdown in 1763 and was briefly committed to an asylum after three attempts on his own life. He was taken in by the Revd Morley Unwin and his wife Mary, who lived in Huntingdon and subsequently at Olney near Milton Keynes. After Morley died in a riding accident, Cowper remained in Mary’s household. Among his friends were John Newton, a clergyman and former slave-trader with whom Cowper collaborated on a book of hymns, and on campaigning for the abolition of slavery; Cowper composed The Negro’s Complaint, a favourite of Martin Luther King’s, in 1788. Later in life he was befriended by a cousin, the Revd John Johnson, and William and Mary moved to Norfolk to be near him. Mary died in 1796, and William four years later.
In a speech delivered in 1856, Frederic Denison Maurice shared his appreciation of poet William Cowper. He reminded us that although Cowper’s life had been full of troubles, he had always possessed the knack of making friends, and had won over many readers too by engaging their sympathies, in good times and bad, through his honest verse. (57 / 60 words)
In a speech delivered in 1856, Frederic Denison Maurice shared his appreciation of poet William Cowper. He reminded us that although Cowper’s life had been full of troubles, he had always possessed the knack of making friends, and had won over many readers too by engaging their sympathies, in good times and bad, through his honest verse.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, just, must, or, otherwise, until, whether.
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