William Cowper

Ode, Supposed to be Written on the Marriage of a Friend

Orpheus and Eurydice myth

Cowper opens by invoking the lyre of Orpheus, whose music charmed wild beasts and nature itself. The poem will rewrite this myth—instead of losing Eurydice to death, the speaker has kept her through marriage.

Thou magic lyre, whose fascinating sound
Seduc'd the savage monsters from their cave,
Drew rocks and trees, and forms uncouth around,
And bade wild Hebrus hush his list'ning wave;
No more thy undulating warblings flow
O'er Thracian wilds of everlasting snow!
Awake to sweeter sounds, thou magic lyre,
And paint a lover's bliss - a lover's pain!
Far nobler triumphs now thy notes inspire, -
For see, Euridice attends thy strain;

The reversal

Cowper shifts from ancient tragedy to present joy: Eurydice 'attends thy strain' not as a ghost, but as a living bride. This is the poem's central move—marriage as the happy ending the myth never got.

Her smile, a prize beyond the conjuror's aim -
Superior to the cancell'd breath of fame.
From her sweet brow to chase the gloom of care,
To check that tear that dims the beaming eye,
To bid her heart the rising sigh forbear,
And flush her orient cheek with brighter joy,
In that dear breast soft sympathy to move,
And touch the springs of rapture and of love!

Shift to first-person confession

The poem switches from addressing the lyre to the speaker revealing his own story. 'Ah me!' marks the turn from abstract praise to personal testimony—he's the one who was 'bewilder'd and astray' until love found him.

Ah me! how long bewilder'd and astray,
Lost and benighted, did my footsteps rove,
Till, sent by heav'n to cheer my pathless way,
A star arose - the radiant star of love.
The God propitious join'd our willing hands,
And Hymen wreath'd us in his rosy bands.

Hymen, god of marriage

[CONTEXT] Roman god who presided over weddings and ensured fertility. Cowper uses classical machinery (gods, fate, heaven) to elevate the marriage as a cosmic event, not just a personal union.

Yet not the beaming eye, or placid brow,
Or golden tresses, hid the subtle dart;

Beauty vs. character

Cowper deliberately dismisses physical attraction ('beaming eye,' 'golden tresses') as insufficient. He names what actually enslaved him: 'beauty, elegance, and grace combin'd' emerging from 'that angel mind'—virtue matters more than appearance.

To charms superior far than those I bow,
And nobler worth enslaves my vanquish'd heart;
The beauty, elegance, and grace combin'd,
Which beam transcendent from that angel mind;
While vulgar passions - meteors of a day,

Vulgar passions vs. holy flame

The final stanza contrasts two kinds of love: temporary passion ('meteors of a day') versus enduring virtue-based love ('holy flame'). Cowper argues that love grounded in moral character survives aging and hardship; lustful passion does not.

Expire before the chilling blasts of age,
Our holy flame, with pure and steady ray,
Its glooms shall brighten, and its pangs assuage;
By Virtue (sacred vestal) fed, shall shine,
And warm our fainting souls with energy divine.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Rewriting Orpheus: Marriage as Redemption

Cowper constructs this poem as a deliberate revision of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. In the classical version, Orpheus's music is powerful enough to move gods and nature, but fails to save his wife from death—he loses her by looking back. Cowper inverts this: his 'magic lyre' has not failed, but succeeded. Eurydice is present, alive, and his bride. The marriage is framed as the victory that myth denied—'Her smile, a prize beyond the conjuror's aim.' This is not nostalgic classicism; it's using classical form to assert that modern domestic love can achieve what ancient heroic quests could not.

The poem's structure mirrors this redemption. It begins in the mythic past (stanzas 1-2), moves into the speaker's personal past (stanza 4: 'how long bewilder'd and astray'), and culminates in the present marriage (stanzas 5-6). Each movement is a step closer to resolution. The final stanza projects into the future—this marriage will endure, unlike Orpheus's doomed attempt. Cowper is claiming that virtue-based love, not just poetic power, guarantees permanence.

The Argument Against Physical Beauty

A striking feature of this marriage poem is its active dismissal of physical attraction. Stanza 5 begins with a direct negation: 'Yet not the beaming eye, or placid brow, / Or golden tresses, hid the subtle dart.' Cowper is saying beauty did not cause his love—something else did. He then names what actually enslaved him: character, not appearance. This matters because it redefines what marriage should celebrate.

CONTEXT Cowper was writing in the 18th century, when sentimental love poetry typically praised a woman's beauty as the source of passion. By dismissing this convention, Cowper is making a philosophical claim: that a marriage grounded in 'Virtue' and 'angel mind' will outlast one based on 'vulgar passions.' The final stanza proves this point—vulgar passion is a 'meteor,' temporary and subject to age, while virtue-fed love 'shall shine' and 'brighten' through time. He's not being prudish; he's arguing that moral character is the only reliable foundation for love that endures.