Volume 39, Number 17 · October 22, 1992
The Mad Poets
By Charles Rosen
The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper, Vol. 1, 'Adelphi' and Letters 1750–1781,
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 598 pp., $115.00
The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper, Vol. 2, Letters 1782–1786
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 652 pp., $149.00
The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper, Vol. 3, Letters 1787–1791
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 630 pp., $110.00
The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper, Vol. 4, Letters 1792–1799
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 498 pp., $150.00
The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper, Vol. 5, Prose 1756–c. 1799 and Cumulative Index
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 246 pp., $72.00
William Cowper: Selected Letters
edited by James King, edited by Charles Ryskamp
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 236 pp., $55.00
The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart, Vol. 1, Jubilate Agno
edited by Karina Williamson
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 143 pp., $65.00
The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart, Vol. 2, Religious Poetry
edited by Marcus Walsh, edited by Karina Williamson
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 472 pp., $95.00
The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart, Vol. 3, A Translation of the Psalms of David
edited by Marcus Walsh
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 480 pp., $120.00
The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart, Vol. 4, Miscellaneous Poems, English and Latin
edited by Karina Williamson
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 498 pp., $115.00
The first severe attack of the depression that was to make so much of the life of the poet William Cowper an unbearable torment occurred when he tried to take up the practice of the law. Born in 1731, the son of a Hampshire rector, he was unstable from infancy; he lost his mother when he was six and he was mercilessly bullied at school. His elegant poetic talent was late in appearing. In the moving account of his melancholy and his religious faith, Adelphi, he writes:
Review, 7766 words
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