Abraham Cowley (1618-1667)

Abraham Cowley was a literary prodigy, composing a romance at ten and a book of poems while a student at Westminster. He attended Trinity College Cambridge (B.A. 1640, M.A. 1643); after he was ejected from the University in 1644 he followed the court to Paris. Returning to England in 1654 Cowley was imprisoned as a secret agent. Upon his release he studied medicine ( M.D. 1655). Cowley was not rewarded as he felt he deserved and spent his last years in retirement, where he wrote the Essays which proved to be his most enduring work.

TEXT RECORDS:

1650The Guardian; a Comedie.
1650To Sir William D'Avenant, upon his two first Books of Gondibert, finish'd before his Voyage to America.
1656Davideis, a Sacred Poem of the Troubles of David. In Four Books.
1664 ca.Of Myself.

PUBLICATIONS:

Poeticall blossomes. 1633, 1636.
Loves riddle: a pastoral comaedie. 1638.
Naufragium joculare: comedia. 1638.
Prologue and epilogue [from Guardian]. 1642.
A satyre against separatists. 1642.
A satyre: the puritan and the papist. 1643.
The mistress: or several copies of love-verses. 1647.
The foure ages of England. 1648.
The guardian: a comedie. 1650.
Poems. 1656.
Ode, upon the blessed restoration and returne of his sacred Majestie Charles the Second. 1660.
A proposition for the advancement of experimental philosophy. 1661.
Visions and prophecies. 1661.
A. Couleii plantarum libri duo. 1662.
Verses lately written upon several occasions. 1663.
Cutter of Coleman street: a comedy. 1663.
Verses, written upon several occasions. 1663.
Works. 3 vols, 1668-89.
A poem on the late civil war. 1679.
Select works, ed. Bishop Hurd. 3 vols, 1772-77.
Prose works. 1826.
English writings, ed. A. R. Waller. 2 vols, 1905, 1906.
Poetry and prose, ed. L. C. Martin. 1949.
The civil War, ed. Allan Pritchard. 1973.
Collected works, ed. Thomas O. Calhoun, Laurence Heyworth, Allan Pritchard. 1989- .

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Westminster School
Trinity College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Doctor of Medicine
courtier

poet
essayist
dramatist
physician

Richard Crashaw
Sir William Davenant
Sir John Denham
Sir Kenelm Digby
John Evelyn
Thomas Hobbes
Humphrey Moseley
Katherine Philips
Thomas Sprat

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

[portrait in Cowley, Love's Riddle (1638)]; Thomas Sprat, "An Account of the Life and Writings" in Works (1668); Edward Phillips, Theatrum Poetarum (1675); John Aubrey, Brief Lives (1669-1696) ed. Clark (1898) 1:189-91; William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687); Gerard Langbaine, Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691); Blount, De Re Poetica (1694); Charles Gildon, Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1699); Giles Jacob, Poetical Register (1719); Giles Jacob, An Historical Account of ... English Poets (1720); John Wesley, Moral and Sacred Poems (1744); Biographia Britannica (1747-66); Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets (1753); "Life of Cowley" Universal Magazine 14 (April 1754) 181-87 [portrait]; David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); James Granger, Biographical History (1769; 1824) [portrait]; Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); Vicesimus Knox, "On the Merits of Cowley as a Poet" Essays Moral and Literary (1779) 2:75-84; Bell's Poets of Great Britain (1776-82); Samuel Johnson, Life in Works of the English Poets (1779-81); George Ellis, Specimens of Early English Poetry (1790; 1801); "History of Knowledge, Learning, and Taste" Universal Magazine 109 (October 1801) 282-87; George Dyer, "Cantabrigiana" Monthly Magazine 16 (September 1803) 132-33; Peter L. Courtier, ed., Lyre of Love (1806); Samuel Jackson Pratt, Cabinet of Poetry (1808); Samuel Egerton Brydges, "On the Latin Poems of Cowley" Censura Literaria 9 (1809) 84-94; Alexander Chalmers, English Poets (1810); George Hardinge, "Critical Essays: Cowley" in Miscellaneous Works (1818); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Ezekiel Sanford, British Poets (1819); Isaac D'Israeli, "Cowley: of Melancholy" in Calamities of Authors (1812); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets (1819); John Aikin, Select Works of the British Poets (1820); Joseph Spence, Anecdotes (1820); "On the Genius of Cowley, Donne, and Cleveland" European Magazine 82 (July-August 1822) 44-48, 108-12; William Hazlitt, Select British Poets (1824); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Anna Brownell Jameson, Loves of the Poets (1829); Biographical Magazine 2 (1830) [portrait]; Robert Aris Willmott, "Familiar Letters of Cowley, with Notices of his Life" Fraser's Magazine 13-14 (April, August 1836) 395-409, 234-41; Robert Aris Willmott, "Cowley and his Friend, William Hervey," in Conversations at Cambridge" (1836) 67-87; Richard Cattermole, Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); William Howitt, Homes and Haunts of the ... British Poets (1847); Mary Russell Mitford, "Abraham Cowley" in Recollections (1852) 36-51; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica 4 (1869) 497-502; William Cullen Bryant, "Abraham Cowley" North American Review (May 1877) in Prose Works (1884) 1:129-46; The English Poets, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880); Foster, Alumni Oxon (1887-91); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Old Westminsters (1928); Arthur H. Nethercot, Cowley, the Muses' Hannibal (1931); Bush, OHEL (1945); Robert B. Hinman, Cowley's World of Order (1960); James G. Taaffe, Cowley (1972); Cummings, Spenser: The Critical Heritage (1971); M. R. Perkin, Cowley: A Bibliography (1977); Spenser Encyclopedia, "Cowley" (1990) 199-200; Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Abraham Cowley:

1.	1658 Anonymous, "On the ingenious Poet Mr. Cowley. A Pyndarique Ode" Naps upon Parnassus (1658) sigs E2-E3.
2.	1662 ca. Katherine Philips, "Upon Mr. Abraham Cowley's Retirement" Philips, Poems (1664) 237-42.
3.	1667 John Denham, On Mr. Abraham Cowley his Death and Burial amongst the Ancient Poets (1667) 1-4.
4.	1667 ca. Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery, "On the Death of Mr. Abraham Cowley, and his Burial in Westminster-Abbey" 1667 ca.; A Collection of Poems (1701) 370-75.
5.	1670 Richard Flecknoe, "On Mr. Abraham Cowly" Epigrams of all Sorts (1670) 69.
6.	1674 Thomas Rymer, Preface to Rapin (1674) Sig B3-B3v.
7.	1682 John Sheffield, in Essay upon Poetry (1682) 8.
8.	1683 John Dryden, in William Soame, trans., Art of Poetry (1683) 65.
9.	1687 Philip Ayres, "A Sonnet. On Signor Pietro Reggio his Setting to Music several of Mr. Cowley's Poems" Ayers, Lyric Poems (1687); Saintsbury, Minor Poets of the Caroline Period (1905-21) 2:281.
10.	1688 Anonymous, "Sent with Cowleys Workes to Astrea" Paul Talleman, Miscellany of New Poems (1688) 35-36.
11.	1693 Samuel Wesley, in "Essay on Heroic Poetry" Life of our Blessed Saviour (1693) sig. a4v.
12.	1694 Joseph Addison, in "Account of the Greatest English Poets" Miscellany Poems the Fourth Part (1694) 319-20.
13.	1697 John Dryden, in Dedication to the Aeneid; Works of Virgil (1697) 237.
14.	1697 Daniel Baker, "On Mr. Abraham Cowley's Works" Baker, Poems upon Several Occasions (1697) 1-2.
15.	1700 Samuel Cobb, in Poetae Britannici (1700) 12-13.
16.	1712 Bezaleel Morrice, in Essay on the Poets (1712) 21-23.
17.	1712 Leonard Welsted, in Remarks on Longinus (1712) 170-71.
18.	1720 Giles Jacob, in Historical Account of the Lives and Writings of our most considerable English Poets (1720) 250-52.
19.	1721 Judith Cowper Madan, in "Progress of Poetry" 1721; London Magazine 28 (1759) 156.
20.	1722 T. B., "Cowley's Wish. To Mr. *****" Daily Journal (26 February 1722).
21.	1726 Aaron Hill, "On Mr. Cowley's introducing Pindaric Verse" Richard Savage, Miscellaneous Poems and Translations (1726) 93-97.
22.	1728 James Ralph, in The Muses' Address to the King (1728) 14.
23.	1737 Alexander Pope, in Epistle to Augustus (1737); Works, ed. Warton (1796-97) 4:157.
24.	1738 Anonymous, in "The Apotheosis of Milton" Gentleman's Magazine 8 (September 1738) 469.
25.	1754 Thomas Francklin, in Translation, a Poem (1754); Poetical Register for 1806-07 (1811) 322.
26.	1757 John Free, in Poems on Several Occasions (1757) xxx.
27.	1757 Richard Hurd, in Letter to Mr. Mason on the Marks of Imitation (1757) 29.
28.	1763 William Thompson, "Garden Inscriptions: In Cowley's Shade" The Poetical Calendar (1763) 8:110-11.
29.	1764 David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) 2:Sig H3v.
30.	1769 Daniel Hayes, in "Immortality of the Muses" Town and Country Magazine 1 (May 1769) 271.
31.	1772 Richard Hurd, in Select works of Cowley (1772); Russell, Book of Authors (1860) 80-81.
32.	1776 James Beattie, in "On Classical Learning" Essays (1776) 742.
33.	1776 John Nichols, Note in Original Works of William King (1776) 3:180-81n.
34.	1782 William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 64.
35.	1782 Joseph Warton, in Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope (1782) 2:43-44.
36.	1789 William Belsham, in Essays (1789; 1799) 2:508-09.
37.	1795 Robert Anderson, in Works of the British Poets (1795) 5:204.
38.	1795 ca. Richard Hurd, "Mr. Abraham Cowley" 1795 ca.; Commonplace Book in Kilvert, Memoir of the Life and Writings of Richard Hurd (1860) 240-41.
39.	1797 Charles Lamb to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 10 January 1797; in Letters, ed. Thomas Noon Talfourd (1837) 1:64.
40.	1802 George Dyer, in Poems (1802) 1:xxii-xxiii.
41.	1802 Joseph Dennie, "Miscellany: Abraham Cowley" Port Folio [Philadelphia] 2 (19 June 1802) 188.
42.	1802 B. T., "Cowley's Epitaph" The Star (17 August 1802).
43.	1803 George Dyer, "Cantabrigiana: Cowley" The Monthly Magazine 16 (September 1803) 132-33.
44.	1806 John Aikin, in Letters to a Young Lady (1806) 234-35.
45.	1809 Anonymous, "Literary Opinions: Cowley" The Cabinet NS 1 (May 1809) 410.
46.	1817 John Taylor Esq., "On Cowley's Monument in Westminster Abbey" The Sun (13 August 1817).
47.	1819 Thomas Campbell, in "Essay on English Poetry" Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1841) lxxix-lxxx.
48.	1819 William Hazlitt, in English Comic Writers (1819; 1909) 78.
49.	1824 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 2 June 1824; in Table Talk (1884) 38.
50.	1824 Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 45.
51.	1825 ca. Henry Mackenzie, Anecdotes and Egotisms, 1825 ca.; ed. Thompson (1927) 156.
52.	1826 Richard Ryan, in Poetry and Poets: being a Collection of the choicest Anecdotes relative to the Poets of every Age and Nation (1826) 3:152-54.
53.	1834 Samuel Egerton Brydges, in Autobiography (1834) 1:342.
54.	1836 Hartley Coleridge, in "William Mason" Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire (1836) 413-14n.
55.	1836 Richard Cattermole, in Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836) 2:290.
56.	1837 William Howitt to Richard Howitt, 5 November 1837; in Mary Howitt, Autobiography (1889) 1: 276.
57.	1837 Henry Hallam, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries (1837-39; 1882) 3:249.
58.	1842 C. H. Timperley, in Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdote (1842) 2:545.
59.	1852 Mary Russell Mitford, "Old Authors. Abraham Cowley" Recollections of a Literary Life; or Books, Places, and People (1852) 36-51.
60.	1860 George Gilfillan, in Specimens with Memoirs of the less-known British Poets (1860) 2:44-49.
61.	1880 Thomas Humphry Ward, in The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880) 2:234-43.
62.	1882 Epes Sargent, in Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry (1882) 109.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Abraham Cowley:

1.	1675 Edward Phillips, in Theatrum Poetarum (1675) 2:1-3.
2.	1687 William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) 182-83.
3.	1691 Gerard Langbaine, in Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691) 77-88.
4.	1719 Giles Jacob, in Poetical Register: or the Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1719) 48-51.
5.	1753 Anonymous, in Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) 2:42-56.
6.	1769 James Granger, in Biographical History of England (1769; 1824) 3:124.
7.	1779 Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets (1779-81); ed. Hill (1905) 1:1-65.
8.	1808 Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:1-2.
9.	1812 Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 10:381-90.
10.	1820 John Aikin, in Select Works of the British Poets (1820) 5.
11.	1844 Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 1:312-14.
12.	1847 William Howitt, "Abraham Cowley" Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets (1847) 1:59-66.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1638 Sir Kenelm Digby: Abraham Cowley, "To the truly Worthy, and Noble, Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knight" Cowley, Loves Riddle (1638) sig. A3.
2.	1650 Sir William Davenant: Abraham Cowley, "To Sir William D'Avenant, upon his two first Books of Gondibert" Davenant, A Discourse upon Gondibert (1650) sig. A3-A3v.
3.	1664 ca. John Evelyn: Abraham Cowley, in Russell, Book of Authors (1860) 82.
4.	1664 Katherine Philips: Abraham Cowley, "To the most excellently accomplish'd, Mrs. K. P. upon her Poems" Philips, Poems (1664) sigs A3-A5v.