This volume includes some of Cowper's finest works, among them such well-known short poems as `The Poplar-Field', `Epitaph on a Hare', `On the Loss of the Royal George' (here restored to the form in which Cowper wrote it, and accompanied by the music for which it was written), and `The Diverting History of John Gilpin' which, two years after its first anonymous publication in a newspaper, suddenly achieved huge popularity in a series of public readings. It also contains Cowper's masterpiece, The Task - one of the most approachable of the great English poems. Cowper's blank verse is a supple instrument, capable of every effect, from the parody-georgic on the growing of cucumbers to the visionary conclusion of Book VI. At the centre of the poem stands the poet himself, presented with wry humour and deep poignancy. The texts are based on manuscripts as well as early editions of the poetry, and are supplied with textual annotation and commentary. In the case of The Task, this is the first fully annotated edition for over a hundred years; its commentary relates the poem to the period in which it was written more fully than any previous edition.

This volume completes the Oxford English Texts edition of Cowper's poems. It contains the poetry he wrote in the last fifteen years of his life, after the publication of The Task had established him as the leading poet of his day. While working on a translation of Homer (not a part of this edition), Cowper found time to produce a wealth of shorter poems, ranging in style from the humour of `The Dog and the Water-Lily' and `The Retired Cat', to the restrained pathos of `On the Receipt of My Mother's Picture out of Norfolk', and `To Mary' (addressed to his companion, Mrs Unwin); and from the reflective tone of `Yardley Oak' to the vulgar energy of the ballads against slavery. His last masterpiece, `The Cast-Away', an expression of the profound misery which had possessed him for most of his adult life, is followed by a series of brilliant translations such as `The Snail'. This contrast of utter despair with humour and careful workmanship gives poetic form to the endlessly fascinating riddle of Cowper's life and personality. The texts are based on manuscripts as well as early editions of the poetry, and are supplied with textual annotation and commentary. The translations of Latin and Italian poems of Milton, in which the poet William Hayley made alterations with Cowper's approval, are for the first time printed so that the reader can distinguish Hayley's work from Cowper's, and see Cowper's original wording.

A scholarly edition of poems by William Cowper. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.