Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake

William Cowper (1731–1800)

Extracts from the Task: Autobiographical

[From Book III, The Garden]

I WAS a stricken deer that left the herd

Long since; with many an arrow deep infixed

My panting side was charged, when I withdrew

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.

There was I found by One who had Himself

Been hurt by the archers. In His side He bore,

And in His hands and feet, the cruel scars.

With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and healed and bade me live.

Since then, with few associates, in remote

And silent woods I wander, far from those

My former partners of the peopled scene;

With few associates, and not wishing more.

Here much I ruminate, as much I may,

With other views of men and manners now

Than once, and others of a life to come.

I see that all are wanderers, gone astray

Each in his own delusions; they are lost

In chase of fancied happiness, still wooed

And never won. Dream after dream ensues,

And still they dream that they shall still succeed,

And still are disappointed. Rings the world

With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind,

And add two-thirds of the remaining half,

And find the total of their hopes and fears

Dreams, empty dreams.