Cowper, William 1731-1800
English poet

Born in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, he was educated at Westminster School, where Warren Hastings and the poet Charles Churchill were contemporaries. He was called to the Bar in 1754, but made no attempt to practise. He showed signs of mental instability and in 1763 tried to commit suicide. With the clergyman John Newton, he wrote the Olney Hymns (1779), to which Cowper contributed some hymns which are still favourites. His other works include the ballad 'John Gilpin' (1783), 'Castaway', The Task (1785), a long poem on rural themes, and translations including Milton's Latin poems. He is generally regarded as the poet of the evangelical revival and as the precursor of Wordsworth as a poet of nature.

Bibliography: Lord David Cecil, The Stricken Deer (1933)