William Cowper (1731-1800)

See where the Thames, the purest stream

Thames as metaphor

River becomes extended metaphor for human emotions. Cowper uses natural landscape to explore psychological terrain.

See where the Thames, the purest stream
That wavers to the noon-day beam,
Divides the vale below:
While like a vein of liquid ore

Liquid ore image

Metallic metaphor suggests the river's value and luminosity. Transforms water into something precious and gleaming.

His waves enrich the happy shore,
Still shining as they flow.
Nor yet, my Delia, to the main
Runs the sweet tide without a stain,
Unsullied as it seems:

Pollution of streams

Colonial reference: 'sable flood' suggests rivers from African territories contaminating the pristine Thames. Racial undertones of purity.

Thy nymphs of many a sable flood
Deform with streaks of oozy mud
The bosom of the Thames.
Some idle rivulets, that feed
And suckle ev'ry noisome weed,
A sandy bottom boast:
For ever bright, for ever clear,
The trifling shallow rills appear
In their own channel lost.
Thus fares it with the human soul,

Soul as river current

Psychological allegory where human emotions mirror river's flow—complex, changeable, potentially turbulent.

Where copious floods of passion roll,
By genuine love supplied:
Fair in itself the current shows,
But ah! a thousand anxious woes
Pollute the noble tide.
These are emotions known to few;
For where at most a vap'ry dew
Surrounds the tranquil heart,
Then, as the triflers never prove
The glad excess of real love,
They never prove the smart.
Oh then, my life, at last relent,
Though cruel the reproach I sent,
My sorrow was unfeign'd:
Your passion, had I lov'd you not,
You might have scorn'd, renounc'd, forgot,
And I had ne'er complain'd.
While you indulge a groundless fear,
Th' imaginary woes you bear
Are real woes to me:
But thou art kind, and good thou art,
Nor wilt, by wronging thine own heart,
Unjustly punish me.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Romantic Metaphysics of Emotion

Cowper transforms a landscape description into a profound meditation on human feeling. The river metaphor becomes a complex psychological exploration, where emotional currents mirror natural waterways.

The poem tracks how seemingly pure experiences (like love) become complicated by external influences. Rivers—initially presented as pristine—get contaminated, just as human emotions are rarely as simple as they first appear.

Love's Complicated Topography

[CONTEXT: Cowper struggled with depression and complex romantic relationships] The poem reveals love as a nuanced emotional landscape. Passionate love isn't just a clear stream but a complex system where 'anxious woes' intermingle with genuine feeling.

Notice how Cowper suggests that only those who deeply love can truly understand emotional complexity—'These are emotions known to few'. The poem becomes less about the river and more about the intricate geography of human attachment.