William Cowper - John Gilpin Dear Matthew, I am writing to tell you all about my misfortunes I had last month upon my wedding day

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Pre-1914 Narrative Poetry

William Cowper - John Gilpin

Dear Matthew,

                I am writing to tell you all about my misfortunes I had last month upon my wedding day. My wife decided that after 10years of marriage that it was time to go on holiday for the first time. As you know, she is very conscious about money and extremely proud, so she brought a carriage for herself, our 3children, her sister and her child, and so I had to ride upon horseback behind them but no-one was able to know.

        So once the morning arrived, I kissed her goodbye and we set off. The horse was misbehaving; I could not control him at all, all the time he was bucking, trotting and galloping when it wasn’t necessary and especially on stony roads, so I fell off about twice. Then Betty came running back to me and said that we had left the alcohol behind and so I tied it to my belt, one on each side so I was balanced and so I could try to not fall off of the horse.

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         Once on my way for the second time, I finally got to some smoother road which became easier for the horse to ride upon. But instead of the easiness I believed this road would be it was the complete opposite, the horse got faster, he began trotting. I tried to get him to slow down but he wouldn’t and the trot soon turned into a gallop, even though I pulled the reins and demanded him to stop. It was terrifying, I was holding onto the reins for dear life. He continued to do this for miles, even through the towns. ...

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