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From Elizabeth Barrett Browning about another British poet, William Cowper, whose sad life I’ve written about
here and
here. The short story behind this poem is this: William Cowper was a believer who suffered from some kind of mental illness and lived much of his life in hopelessness. In his melancholy episodes, which were long lasting, he was convinced that he had been forsaken by God. This is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s reflections on his life and afterlife.
It is about Cowper, yes, but more than that, it is a poem of the cross of Christ.
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