Cowper's 'Task': Structure and Influence

William Cowper (1731–1800) is one of the most interesting of late eighteenth-century poets. His poetry is notable as heralding a simpler and more natural style than the classical style of Pope and his imitators, and thus prefiguring the profound innovations of Romanticism. Though Cowper himself has attracted attention as either a religious maniac or a lovably domestic character, his most important poetry has been neglected. This book, which was originally published in 1983, is the first com...