Abraham Cowley
1618 - 1667

English poet, dramatist and essayist. His poetry includes The Mistress, or Several Copies of Love Verses (1647) and Poems (1656). He is best known for his Pindaric Odes and his unfinished epic, The Davideis. He also wrote A Poem on the Late Civil War and several odes and elegies. His plays include The Guardian (1641), later revised as The Cutter of Coleman Street (1661). His prose writings include A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy (1661) and many fine essays on general topics in the style of Montaigne. He is often described as the last poet of the Metaphysical school, writing The Mistress in the manner of Donne. But his style was mainly classical, more suited to the Augustan style of his successors like Dryden.