An interesting read – though I'm not sure I fully understood it!

An interesting read – though I'm not sure I fully understood it!

An interesting read – though I'm not sure I fully understood it!

There are four poems in this book including The Task, which is a novella length poem. The remaining 13 pages has an introduction and the 3 other poems; these are much shorter in length and shows Cowper’s chilled-out nature better.The book I downloaded from Guttenberg explains: In the summer of 1783, when one of the three friends had been reading blank verse aloud to the other two, *Lady Austen, from her seat upon the sofa, urged upon Cowper, as she had urged before, that blank verse was to be pr...

I adore this wonderful poem created by Cowper after being challenged by his friend and neighbour to write in blank verse on the subject of "anything - write on this sofa". Like Cowper, I started on the sofa too (reading it) but you don't stay there for long as the poet takes you on a wonderful journey through space and time (including into the future: "My very gentle reader, yet unborn,/Of whom I needs must augur better things,Since Heaven would sure grow weary of a world/Productive only of a ra...

I adore this wonderful poem created by Cowper after being challenged by his friend and neighbour to write in blank verse on the subject of "anything - write on this sofa". Like Cowper, I started on the sofa too (reading it) but you don't stay there for long as the poet takes you on a wonderful journey through space and time (including into the future: "My very gentle reader, yet unborn,/Of whom I needs must augur better things,Since Heaven would sure grow weary of a world/Productive only of a ra...

I adore this wonderful poem created by Cowper after being challenged by his friend and neighbour to write in blank verse on the subject of "anything - write on this sofa". Like Cowper, I started on the sofa too (reading it) but you don't stay there for long as the poet takes you on a wonderful journey through space and time (including into the future: "My very gentle reader, yet unborn,/Of whom I needs must augur better things,Since Heaven would sure grow weary of a world/Productive only of a ra...

Reading William Cowper's The Task is, to put it succinctly, a task. But like many tasks, it is one that ultimately is deeply gratifying. This very long poem, written in blank verse and covering 101 pages in this edition (and in a small typeface, no less) was Cowper's magnum opus and justifiably made him famous. Published in 1785, The Task left a deep impression on its readers, including the Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; they attributed this passionate panegyric t...

Reading William Cowper's The Task is, to put it succinctly, a task. But like many tasks, it is one that ultimately is deeply gratifying. This very long poem, written in blank verse and covering 101 pages in this edition (and in a small typeface, no less) was Cowper's magnum opus and justifiably made him famous. Published in 1785, The Task left a deep impression on its readers, including the Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; they attributed this passionate panegyric t...

Reading William Cowper's The Task is, to put it succinctly, a task. But like many tasks, it is one that ultimately is deeply gratifying. This very long poem, written in blank verse and covering 101 pages in this edition (and in a small typeface, no less) was Cowper's magnum opus and justifiably made him famous. Published in 1785, The Task left a deep impression on its readers, including the Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; they attributed this passionate panegyric t...

The Task was a tough read for me at times...in length and heavy, often unfamiliar language. But the more I read, the more I found these absolute jewels of godly wisdom. I love and respect Cowper -- and mourn the fact that his legacy often relegates him to the category of "madman."

The Task was a tough read for me at times...in length and heavy, often unfamiliar language. But the more I read, the more I found these absolute jewels of godly wisdom. I love and respect Cowper -- and mourn the fact that his legacy often relegates him to the category of "madman."

The Task was a tough read for me at times...in length and heavy, often unfamiliar language. But the more I read, the more I found these absolute jewels of godly wisdom. I love and respect Cowper -- and mourn the fact that his legacy often relegates him to the category of "madman."

The Task was a tough read for me at times...in length and heavy, often unfamiliar language. But the more I read, the more I found these absolute jewels of godly wisdom. I love and respect Cowper -- and mourn the fact that his legacy often relegates him to the category of "madman."

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid