a wounded
animal. He was born at Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, in 1731, the son
of an English clergyman. He was a delicate, sensitive child, whose early
life was saddened by the death of his mother and by his neglect at home. At
six years he was sent away to a boys' school, where he was terrified by
young barbarians who made his life miserable. There was one atrocious bully
into whose face Cowper could never look; he recognized his enemy by his
shoe buckles, and shivered at his approach. The fierce invectives of his
"Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools" (1784), shows how these school
experiences had affected his mind and health. For twelve years he studied
law, but at the approach of a public examination for an office he was so
terrified that he attempted suicide. The experience unsettled his reason,
and the next twelve months were spent in an asylum at St. Alban's. The
death of his father, in 1756, had brought the poet a small patrimony, which
placed him above the necessity of struggling, like Goldsmith, for his daily
bread. Upon his recovery he boarded for years at the house of the Unwins,
cultured people who recognized the genius hidden in this shy and melancholy
yet quaintly humorous man. Mrs. Unwin, in particular, cared for him as a
son; and whatever happiness he experienced in his poor life was the result
of the devotion of this good woman, who is the "Mary" of all his poems.

A second attack of insanity was brought on by Cowper's morbid interest in
religion, influenced, perhaps, by the untempered zeal of one John Newton, a
curate, with whom Cowper worked in the small parish of Olney, and with whom
he compiled the famous Olney Hymns. The rest of his life, between intervals
of melancholia or insanity, was spent in gardening, in the care of his
numerous pets, and in writing his poems, his translation of Homer, and his
charming letters. His two best known poems were suggested by a lively and
cultivated widow, Lady Austen, who told him the story of John Gilpin and
called for a ballad on the subject. She also urged him to write a long poem
in blank verse; and when he demanded a subject, she whimsically suggested
the sofa, which was a new article of furniture at that time. Cowper
immediately wrote "The Sofa," and, influenced by the poetic possibilities
that lie in unexpected places, he added to this poem from time to time, and
called his completed work _The Task_. This was published in 1785, and the
author was instant