Light Shining Out of Darkness

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1773

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Related Poems

"Amazing Grace" by John Newton (1779)

John Newton was the Calvinist minister whom Cowper met in Olney and with whom he wrote and published the Olney Hymns collection in 1779. Though written in 1772, “Amazing Grace” appeared in the Olney Hymns collection with a number of Cowper’s original hymns, including “Light Shining Out of Darkness.” Arguably one of the most well-known and easily recognized hymns, “Amazing Grace” expounds on the benevolent nature of God and his ability to dispel all fear and lead his faithful to clarity and peace.

"O For a Closer Walk With God" by William Cowper (1779)

Besides “Light Shining Out of Darkness,” another of Cowper’s renowned hymns is “O For a Closer Walk With God.” As with “Amazing Grace” by Newton, it also appeared in the 1779 publication of the Olney Hymns. The hymn is a love song to God from one of his followers who has strayed from his fold. While the speaker walks aimlessly through darkness, they remember the peace they once felt following God and walking in God’s light. The speaker laments their wandering and commits to returning to the path of righteousness once more.

"Sonnet to William Wilberforce, Esq." by William Cowper (1792)

While Cowper experienced a good portion of his popularity from his hymns, he also excelled in other forms of poetry and textual production. This particular work, Cowper’s “Sonnet to William Wilberforce, Esq.,” is not only valuable for readers wanting to experience a different form of Cowper’s writing, but also provides insight into the poet’s political inclinations as well. Wilberforce was a politician and abolitionist, and in Cowper’s sonnet he mourns the ill treatment of Wilberforce by his countrymen and encourages hope for their abolitionist cause.

Further Literary Resources

"Cowper, Slave Narratives, and the Antebellum American Reading Public" by Katherine Turner (2016)

Produced by the Cowper and Newton Museum, Turner’s article was published in The Cowper and Newton Journal. Turner attempts to make connections between Cowper’s anti-slavery writings and American abolitionist work, “both white campaigners and African-American producers of slave narratives.” Her goal is to suggest “avenues for further investigation into Cowper’s standing in antebellum America.”

"William Cowper: A Religious Melancholic?" by Diane Buie (2013)

Buie “re-evaluates the account of the mental turmoil expressed by the poet William Cowper in his spiritual autobiography Adelphi.” Buie’s work was published in the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies and explores the concept of religious melancholy in the context of the time period in which Cowper wrote. Buie claims that Cowper may have pretended to suffer from religious melancholy “because of the tolerance shown towards sufferers.”

“'The Spirit Breathes upon the Word': The Formative Use of Scripture in the Hymns of William Cowper" by Tom Schwanda (Spring 2012)

Schwanda’s work appeared in the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care and focuses on Cowper’s contributions to the Olney Hymns collection. Schwanda analyzes how Cowper incorporates Scripture into his hymns as well as the “‘formative nature of Scripture within those hymns.” Schwanda specifically looks at “the dynamic intersection between the Word and Spirit” present in Cowper’s works and “how the contemporary church can learn to read Scripture more formatively through the themes of Cowper’s hymns.”