Cowper, William

William Cowper, English poet, was born at his father's rectory at Great Berkhampstead on 15 November 1731. He was educated at Westminster College and called to the bar in 1754. Following a spell of mental instability, bouts of which were to plague him for the rest of his life, he went to live at Huntingdon with the Revd. Morely Unwin, his wife, Mary (b. 1724) and their son William, who by then was away from home. On the death of Unwin, Mary moved to Olney in Buckinghamshire with Cowper. The curate in Olney, John Newton, collaborated with Cowper in the writing of the Olney Hymns (1779) after which he moved to London. Under Mrs. Unwin's influence, Cowper wrote a series of moral satires, published in 1782 as Poems. Mrs. Unwin died on 17 December 1796 while William Cowper lived for a few more years, dying on 25 April 1800.

2015-5-29

W. Laufs