Cowper

Smith, Goldwin, 1823-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 211K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cowper by Goldwin SmithAuthor: Smith, Goldwin, 1823-1910,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 29, 2004

Editor's review

This critical biography of Cowper by Goldwin Smith is a public-domain English work within Project Gutenberg's free eBook collection. Centered on the eighteenth-century English poet William Cowper, it helps readers understand the poet's life and literary standing from the perspective of biographical criticism. As an early critical biography, its value lies not in offering the latest scholarship but in showing how a Victorian critic evaluated Cowper and in its method of combining historical material with moral judgment. The book is in English, and its length and structure make it suitable as supplementary reading for the study of English literary history. Readers may read it alongside Cowper's own poems, noting Smith's critical stance and the limitations of his era, and should not treat it as the sole authoritative biography. For those studying reception history, life writing, or nineteenth-century English literary taste, this small book offers a representative sample.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students who need to understand Cowper and the history of criticism on him
General readers interested in eighteenth-century English poetry and life writing
Scholars studying Victorian methods of literary criticism
Readers who wish to supplement their reading of English classics with public-domain eBooks

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking the latest scholarly biographies and textual scholarship on Cowper
Beginners with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
Readers expecting a systematic poetry anthology or detailed analysis of individual works

Reading tips

Read representative poems by Cowper first, then return to Smith's commentary for comparison.
Mark passages where Smith makes moral judgments and consider the standpoint of his era.
Use this book as supplementary material alongside a textbook on eighteenth-century English literary history.
For the English original, read chapter by chapter and briefly note the author's core judgments after each chapter.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a collection of Cowper's poems or a biography?

It is a critical-biographical work about the poet William Cowper by Goldwin Smith, focusing on his life and literary standing rather than being a complete anthology of Cowper's poetry. To read the original works, you will need a separate selected poems of Cowper.

What is the language and edition of this book?

It is an English-language work in Project Gutenberg's free eBook collection, classified under English literature. It is an electronic version of a public-domain text, suitable for reading on electronic devices, but it contains no modern scholarly annotations or latest research findings.

Can I read it without a background in English literature?

Yes, but there is a certain threshold. The book involves eighteenth-century English religious, political, and literary contexts; without basic knowledge, it is easy to lack the basis for judging Smith's evaluations. It is advisable to first learn a little about Cowper's life and times before starting the book.

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About the author

Smith, Goldwin, 1823-1910 Author

Goldwin Smith (1823–1910) was a nineteenth-century British writer and commentator, with seven works held in this collection. Public information is limited, so biographical details are difficult to set out, but his works show interests spanning history, religion and portraits of individuals. He wrote Irish History and the Irish Question, which discusses Ireland's historical development and contemporary politics; Oxford and Her Colleges, which portrays the university from the vantage point of the Radcliffe Library; and Lectures and Essays and The Religious Situation, which reflect his continuing attention to questions of thought and belief. There are also biographical pieces such as Cowper and My Memory of Gladstone, as well as argumentative works like No Refuge but in Truth. His style tends toward discussion and commentary, addressing public questions from historical and moral perspectives.