Abraham Cowley: Life and Works of a 17th-Century English Poet and Essayist

Life and career

Cowley came to notice as a young writer and continued to publish throughout his life. He attracted attention for both his poetry and his prose, and his work reached a wide readership during his lifetime. His writing career spanned several decades of the mid-1600s, a period of considerable political and cultural change in England.

Major works

• The Mistress (1647) — a volume of love poems that became his best-known poetic collection.
• A collection of essays (1668) — a prose book that found popularity among contemporary readers.

Reputation

In his own era Cowley enjoyed significant popularity; later critical opinion has varied, with some scholars emphasizing his technical skill and others preferring different seventeenth‑century writers. His work is still studied for its insight into literary tastes and forms of the period.