Knowra Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) was an English poet and essayist whose metaphysical verse and influential Pindaric odes helped shape seventeenth-century English poetry.
Metaphysical poetry : A seventeenth-century poetic style marked by intellectual argument, surprising imagery, and elaborate conceits. Cowley’s early verse belongs to this style, especially in its wit and learned imagery.
The Mistress : Abraham Cowley’s 1647 collection of love poems, written in the metaphysical style. This collection made his early reputation as a poet of ingenious, argumentative love lyrics.
Caroline poetry : English poetry written during the reign of Charles I, from 1625 to 1649. Cowley began publishing within this courtly literary culture before the Civil Wars.
John Milton : An English poet and prose writer best known for the epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton and Cowley became prominent poets amid the political upheavals of the mid-seventeenth century.
William Wordsworth : An English Romantic poet who helped define Romanticism through poems about nature, memory, and ordinary life. Wordsworth’s objections to Cowley’s artificial diction exemplify Romantic resistance to metaphysical poetry.
Pindaric ode : An English ode inspired by Pindar, using irregular stanza lengths and rhythms rather than a fixed metrical pattern. Cowley’s influential experiments helped establish this form in English poetry.
Pindarique Odes : Abraham Cowley’s 1656 collection of odes written in irregular English verse inspired by Pindar. The collection gave Cowley’s version of the Pindaric ode its most influential early showcase.
English Civil War : A series of armed conflicts from 1642 to 1651 between supporters of Charles I and Parliament. The conflict drove Cowley into royalist service and prolonged exile abroad.
John Dryden : An English poet, playwright, and critic who became the leading literary figure of the Restoration era. Dryden’s account of Cowley helped secure his place among England’s major poets.
Augustan poetry : English poetry of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, often marked by formal control, satire, and classical models. Cowley’s posthumous prestige helped establish standards that later Augustan poets inherited and revised.
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