Tag Archives: William Cowper

Truth in ’24, a Pearl of Great Price

By Robin Bates | Published: January 10, 2024

Biden called for truth telling in a recent speech, reminding me of Cowper’s “The Task.”

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“What Is Truth?” He Asked of Truth Itself

By Robin Bates | Published: November 20, 2021

Cowper’s exploration of Truth takes Pilate’s question as its jumping off point.

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Lit as Truth in a Self-Deceiving World

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2021

When many are suffering from cognitive dissonance, the truth of literature more important than ever.

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Eternally Damned after Reading a Book

By Robin Bates | Published: June 23, 2021

In which I compare Austen’s Marianne and Willoughby to Dante’s Paulo and Francesca.

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The Only Lasting Treasure, Truth

By Robin Bates | Published: November 25, 2018

William Cowper’s meditations on Truth in “The Task” dramatize Jesus’s words on the subject.

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What Is Truth? Cowper’s Beautiful Answer

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2018

In the face of Trump’s constant lying, we need William Cowper, who reminds us of the sanctity of truth.

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Please God, Prepare a Fruitful Place

By Robin Bates | Published: July 16, 2017

William Cowper has a lovely poem about the parable of the sower and the seed. Cowper wrestled with crippling depression and was afraid that his heart was too stony to receive God’s grace.

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Beauty Breaks Like a Flash from Heaven

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2016

William Cowper invokes St. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus to capture his sense of God in nature.

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The Rising Floodwaters of Sadness

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2013

My father is dying. One of his last acts was to find an A. A. Milne passage about Sewanee’s incessant rain for the local newspaper.

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