The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper: Volume 5: Prose 1756-1798 and Cumulative Index [Hardcover]

William Cowper (Author), James King (Editor), Charles Ryskamp (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1986 | ISBN-10: 0198126905 | ISBN-13: 978-0198126904

Comments on earlier volumes: "William Cowper is one of the very greatest of letter-writers in English.... To read them is to be in touch with a mind of civilised humor and a style of healthy clarity.... The completed set will become an indispensable work of scholarship."--Critical Quarterly. Volume V completes this definitive edition of Cowper's letters and prose. It contains a cumulative index for the set.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The existence of this edition will do much to change and deepen our view of Cowper...a flowing life in letters...the felt day-to-day experience of a poet trapped in conventions of poetic procedure that no longer suit his experience. "--Studies in English Literature

"Certainly, the very best letters that ever were published."--William Blake

"A definitive edition which will lead readers back to this superb writer, whose clarity and wit, elegance and unpretentiousness have also provided readers with a fearful and unforgettable portrait of a mind overwhelmed with religious terror and suicidal despair."--Choice

"Charles Ryskamp of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York is the most distinguished of Cowper scholars....now he shows himself an exemplary editor, deeply learned in the poet's life and times, ready but not over-ready to annotate."--Frank Kermode in The New York Review of Books "An indispensable work of scholarship."--Critical Quarterly

"This beautiful--and obviously definitive--edition...exemplary: Careful, full, discretely and clearly annotated, well indexed, a delight to handle and to read...To read these letters provides most of the pleasures of reading a novel...that it also provides literary and social history, literal truth, is surely an added advantage."--Modern Philology

About the Author

William Cowper (1731-1800) was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. James King is Professor of English at McMaster University. Charles Ryskamp is Director of the Frick Collection.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 4, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198126905
• ISBN-13: 978-0198126904
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,322,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)