Neoclassical Aesthetic Theory

Cowper articulates a classical conception of beauty where perfection emerges from harmonious combination, not individual features. The poem suggests beauty is an integrated system, where individual elements gain power through strategic arrangement.

The metaphorical shift from physical description to scientific optics reveals the Enlightenment-era fascination with understanding beauty through rational, systematic observation.

Poetic Technique: Rhetorical Progression

The poem moves through three distinct stages: physical description, aesthetic philosophy, and scientific metaphor. Each stanza escalates the complexity of the beauty argument, from surface appearance to abstract principle to natural law.

Cowper uses precise, measured language typical of 18th-century verse, creating an intellectual elegance that mirrors the beauty he describes.

William Cowper (1731-1800)

A Song (Cowper)

The sparkling eye, the mantling cheek,

The polish'd front, the snowy neck,

How seldom we behold in one!

Glossy locks, and brow serene,

Classical Beauty Comparison

Cowper references Venus (love) and Diana (chastity) to suggest a perfect, multifaceted feminine ideal.

Venus' smiles, Diana's mien,

All meet in you, and you alone.

Beauty, like other pow'rs, maintains

Her empire, and by ''union'' reigns;

Each single feature faintly warms,

But where at once we view display'd

Unblemish'd grace, the perfect maid

Our eyes, our ears, our heart alarms.

So when on earth the God of day

Obliquely sheds his temper'd ray,

Through convex orbs the beams transmit,

Scientific Light Metaphor

Uses optical science as a metaphor for beauty's intensification—light rays concentrate and amplify, like aesthetic qualities.

The beams that gently warm'd before,

Collected, gently warm no more,

But glow with more prevailing heat.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation