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Romanticism and Evangelical Christianity in William Cowper's the at Sk Carol V Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1976 Romanticism and Evangelical Christianity in William Cowper's The aT sk Carol V. Johnson Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Johnson, Carol V., "Romanticism and Evangelical Christianity in William Cowper's The askT " (1976). Masters Theses. 3394. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3394 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ROMANTICISM AND EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY I N WILLIAM COWPER'S THE TASK (TITLE) BY CAROL V. JOHNSON B. A., Eastern I llinois University, 1975 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE DATE PAPER CERTIFICATE #2 TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have wr i tten formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. • The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to repr oduc e dissertations for inclusion in their library hold ings . Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a. reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's li brary or research holdings. I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because � Date Author pdm 345848 ROMANTICISM AND E A G ELICAL CHRISTIANITY V N IN I IA COWPER'S THE TASK W LL M BY CAROL V . JOHNSON B. A., Eastern Illinois University, 1975 ABSTRACT OF A THESIS Submitted in nartial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the Graduate School of Eastern Illinois University CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1976 In The Task, dated William Cowper clearly 1785, anticipates certain major themes in early nineteenth-century British Romantic poetry . In his individua l presentation of the centra l Romantic themes of this "transitional" work, however, Cowper differs significantly from the major Romantic po�ts whose work his own most resembles . This is largely due to the strain of Evangelical Christianity that pervades the poem , as the result of his contact with the Evangelical R evival that swept England during the second half of the eighteenth century. The orthodox Christian doc trine and morality that underlie the Romantic themes in The �. together with the spirit of the R evival that insuires the literary use of thos e themes , become an important con­ sid eration in reading C owp er's work as significant nature and humanitarian poetry in its own right . The first three sections of this paper are devoted to brief identification of some Romantic themes in The � on the basis of clear similarities to the work of certain Romantic poets , particularly Blake, Wordsworth , and Shelley , and to demonstration of the religious bas is for Cowper's individual presentation of those themes. I have discussed The � first as Wordsworthian nature poetry saturated with the Evangelical message and spirit, then , as humani­ tarian r1oetry in which the sympathetic analysis of English manners and morals has its basis in N ew Tes tament doctrine. It is also idealist poetry of mankind in which the more universal themes of liberty, brotherhood, the im�orality 1 2 of war , and the nrophetic vision of a perfected world are based on the �oet's conviction of the unity of mankind under one God and intensified by his religious fervor. These three sections provide substantial evidence for the positive literary infl�ence of Evangelicalism on Cowper's writing of. ��· The fina l section is devoted to investigation of the unfortunate critical tendency to cite Evan�elica lism as a limiting factor in Cowper's literary development. It has been suggested that had he not come under the influ ence of the Revival Cowper' s ima�inative and noetic powers could have developed more fully . This idea rai ses the more �eneral critical nroblem of whether adherence to a conventional theology nrevents the serious �ursuit and high �urposes of the true noet and interferes with the free exercise of the poetic imagination . Although one can probably assume that the orthodox Christian writer's conscious attitude toward his work will differ from that of the non-Christian, there is no evidence that adher ence to a conventional theology in itself precludes the writing of imaginative poetry , and in fact, the achievement of such writers as Dante and Milton su�rests the oppos ite. It seems much more plausible to conclude that The Task owes much to its Evangelical Christian strain, and that Cowper was not inherently a creative writer like Wordsworth, but a gifted essayist and letter writer whose persona l and emo tional religion moved him to poetic exnressicn. I NTRODUCTION William C owp er's The Task, dated 1785, shows certa in marked thematic similarities to the work of the major British Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century . T hese an­ ticipations , particular ly of major themes of Wordsworth, B lake, and Shelley, acc ord the poem a significant place in the development of E ng l ish nature and humanitarian poetry. The tend ency among literary historians to consider Cowper' s major and most mature work as simp ly an interesting tran­ sitiona l piece, how ever , has been an unfortunate one. As William N. Free observes in his recent literary biography of Cowp er, this tend ency is signified by the term "Pre­ Romantic" frequently applied to this and other works of its generation. Besides implying , as he sugg ests , th at 11 such poems as The Tas k are only a landmark in the journ ey to Tintern Abbey, and that any true estimat e of their va lue must be mad e from the persp ective of what foll ow ed ,"1 this term fails to call sufficient attention to the sign ificant respects in which Cowper differs from the R omantic poets in his treatment of the central R omantic themes of the poem. These differences, my primary concern in th is paper, c annot be satisfactorily acc ounted for by ba lan cing Cowper's R omantic with his obvious N eo-Classical tend encies, as t he term "Pre-R oma ntic" would also seem to imp ly . N or can they 1 2 simp ly be attributed to his in dividual personality either as man or as poet. Rath er , th ey result more clearly from the simu ltan eous expression in the poem of the orthodox Christian doctrine and moral va lu es and the religious fervor develoned in Cowper through his contact with the great re­ ligious movement known as Methodism , or the E vangelical R evival , led by John an d Charles Wes ley and G eorge White­ field in the sec ond half of the eighteenth century . Ernest Bern baum , noted Romantic scho lar , describes Romanticism not only in terms of thematic common denominators , bu t as an " intuitive faith ex pressed throug h the emotional and 2 symbolical art of lit erature. " He comments that "in roman­ tic literature there are found , as und erly ing assumptions , certain fr equently repeated in tui tions about the meaning s of life and the purposes wh ich lie beh ind life."3 The more orthodox C hrist ian doctrines of Ev angelicalism that un derlie the R omantic themes in The Task, together with the sp irit of the Revival that inspires th e literary us e of those themes, become a significan t cons ideration in forming conclusions about C owper's work as significant nature and human itarian poetry in its own right. It is my purpose in this paper to identify briefly some Romantic th emes in Th e Task on the basis of cl ear simi ­ larities to the work of certain nineteenth-century Romantic poets , to sh ow the ind ividuality of Cowper' s treatment of these themes on the basis of th e pronounced E vang el ical Christian st ra in that perm eates all of his writing , an d 3 finally, to form a critical j udgm en t of the literary effect of this strain on this " Pre-R omantic" work . I hav e un der- taken the study of R omantic themes in th e poem keeping firmly in min d that the identification of su ch tend enc ies is only useful in sofar as it helps in more meaningful analys is of the work itself, "R om anticism" is itself , of cours e, an elusiv e term, but for my pu rposes in th is pr oj ect I have used as a guide th e Pre-R omantic tend enc ies in eighteenth­ cen tury literature li sted by Professor Bernbaum in hi s Guid e 4 Through the Romantic Movement, I hav e not attempted to make th oroug h comparisons and contrasts of Cowper' s poem to the vast body of work of the Romantic poets discu ssed , but hav e tried on ly to mak e some of the most obvious and useful.
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