University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Works of William Cowper

Comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations. With a life of the author, by the editor, Robert Southey

expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
collapse sectionVI. 
  
  
  
  
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionVIII. 
expand sectionIX. 
expand sectionX. 
expand sectionXI, XII. 
expand sectionXIII, XIV. 
expand sectionXV. 

ON THE REED.

I was of late a barren plant,
Useless, insignificant,
Nor fig, nor grape, nor apple bore,
A native of the marshy shore;
But gather'd for poetic use,
And plunged into a sable juice,
Of which my modicum I sip
With narrow mouth and slender lip,
At once, although by nature dumb,
All eloquent I have become,
And speak with fluency untired,
As if by Phœbus' self inspired.