Christian Theology
As a preacher and fervent Christian, the will of God and Christian believe always play a major role within the poetry of William Cowper. His poems often explicitly name God or refer to his will as unchanging. This thematic focus made him one of the most popular poets of his time. The topic is especially interesting, as Cowper was such a strong believer that his poems very often shunned criticism of believe. A major example of this can be found in the poem "God Moves in a Mysterious Way", which focusses strongly on the difference between the human perception of situations and the true Godly perception. For Cowper it was never acceptable to question God.
Abolitionism
Cowper was, as a fervent Christian and humanist, a firm believer in abolitionism. Some poems had a strong focus on the end to slavery around the planet. The subjugation of the black man, in Cowper's eyes, was an affront towards God and has to end as soon as possible. The best example of this poetry can be found in the poem "The Negro's Complaint". The poet gives agency to the black man, using a slave as the narrator, and puts him therefore on the same level as the white man. This poem in particular and other poems as well contain explicit pleas to end slavery.
Everyday Life - A humans fate
As one of the forerunners of Romanticism, William Cowper often included or even focussed on the life of ordinary people. These poems often take place in the countryside or at other work places of ordinary people. While never abandoning the eternal devotion to God and his eternal plan, this focus on human instead of godly matters distinguishes Cowper from other poets of his time. One good example of this can be found in the poem "The Castaway" where Cowper describes the fate of a sailor swept into the ocean. The poem describes the final moments of a sailor before drowning.
Poetry - Meta-analysis
Cowper often, within his poems refers to the job and life of the poet. He explicitly rises out of the narrative of the poem at hand and talks about poetry as an art or chore. One such example can be found in the poem "The Castaway", where the description of the the sailors last moments ends with a general consideration of poets treatment of ordinary life. Cowper considers death as ultimate as no poet remembers those ordinary people, so everyone dies alone at last. Another example can be found in "The Timepiece", where Cowper mentions the pain of poetry only a poet can know within the ordinary story of the poem.
