(November 15, 1731–April 25, 1800), was an English poet who pioneered the English Romantic movement. His works include: Table Talk; Truth; Expostulations; On Receipt of My Mother’s Picture; and The Castaway. His most renowned work, published in 1785, was The Task, which included his best-known poem, “The Diverting History of John Gilpin.” He also completed a translation of Homer. In 1779, William Cowper published The Olney Hymns, which include: “Oh! for a Closer Walk with God,” “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”
In his work, The Task, 1785, William Cowper composed the poem, “Winter Walk at Noon”:
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.697