The Collected Works of Abraham Cowley

Abraham Cowley. Line engraving by W. Faithorne, 1687, after Sir P. Lely. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection. Licence: Public Domain Mark.

General Editors:

Greg Clingham, Bucknell University and Penn State University

Joshua Swidzinski, University of Portland

The English poet Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) was one of the most popular and versatile writers of his era, an important witness to the English Civil Wars, and a significant influence upon seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers such as Milton, Dryden, Behn, Pope, Swift, and Johnson (the last of whom deemed Cowley the finest of the metaphysical poets). In 1989, the University of Delaware Press began publishing a multi-volume edition of Cowley’s works comprising his poetry, prose, and plays, in English and Latin. The Collected Works of Abraham Cowley was intended to be the first complete modern edition of the poet’s writings, and two well-received volumes were published in 1989 and 1993. However, the project lapsed after the death of its founding editor, Thomas O. Calhoun.

With the support of the University of Delaware Press, a new team of editors will complete this much-needed edition through the publication of seven further volumes encompassing Cowley’s poetry, plays, prose, and letters. These volumes will also include works of questionable authorship often attributed to Cowley, seventeenth-century musical settings of his poetry, and influential accounts of the poet’s life published shortly after his death. When completed, the nine-volume Collected Works will be a valuable resource for undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars working in the fields of literature, history, and culture. The edition’s textual and critical commentary, assembled by qualified scholars from a variety of disciplines (literary studies, classics, history, and musicology), will represent a significant improvement over A. R. Waller’s The English Writings of Abraham Cowley (Cambridge, 1905–06), the most recent edition to have attempted (and even then, only partially) a full survey of Cowley’s influential body of work. 

Editorial Advisory Board:

Niall Allsopp, University of Exeter

Liza Blake, University of Toronto

Ian Calvert, University of Bristol

Philip Hardie, University of Cambridge

Maggie Kilgour, McGill University

J. Daniel Kinney, University of Virginia

John Kuhn, Binghamton University

Alexander Lindsay, Independent Scholar

Victoria Moul, University College London / Sorbonne

Lois Potter, University of Delaware

Henry Power, University of Exeter

Caroline Spearing, University of Exeter

Ernest W Sullivan II, Virginia Tech

Thomas Ward, United States Naval Academy

Bryan White, University of Leeds

For further information, please contact swidzins@up.edu.