William Lisle Bowles, Fourteen sonnets (Bath, 1789)

Commentary
William Lisle Bowles, Fourteen sonnets (Bath, 1789)
Collection: 
Winchester College Collections

Bowles (1762–1850) was educated at Winchester between 1775 and 1781. The headmaster, Joseph Warton, encouraged pupils to write poetry and Bowles later described him as the one ‘who didst first inspire my timid muse’. Bowles’ sonnets had a significant influence on English Romantic poetry, and were greatly admired by Wordsworth and Coleridge.