An Ecological Implication of Sympathy in William Cowper's The Task

An Ecological Implication of Sympathy in William Cowper's The Task

This paper proposes to examine the ways in which sympathy functions in the conceptualization of nature in William Cowper’s The Task. As an ecologically informed Christian poet, Cowper revives and modifies the emergent trajectory of a spiritual understanding of the world in the age of Enlightenment. His approach to non-human subjects is closely interwoven with an eco-theological understanding, in which all of the earth community is valuable to God. Cowper is aware of the separation of himself from God and God’s creatures in the post-lapsarian era. This realization necessitates the indispensable role of sympathy in connection with animals, humans, and God. Here the heart of the stewardship lies, not in the ruthless domination of others for the benefit of the owner, but in the responsibility of the owner. To him, sympathy is neither a sentimental, idealizing nor a culturally myopic illusion, a kind of willed ignorance. Rather, it functions as a key element in his view of human nature. Without sympathy, one is “unfit / For human fellowship.” His advocacy for expressing caring and sympathy for creatures becomes a social critique and transformation from the perspective of Christianity.