St Edmund's Chapel
William Hayley
Ye who with warmth the public triumph feel
Of talents, dignified by sacred zeal,
Here, to devotion's bard devoutly just,
Pay your fond tribute due to Cowper's dust!
England, exulting in his spotless fame,
Ranks with her dearest sons his favourite name.
Sense, fancy, wit, suffice not all to raise
So clear a title to affection's praise;
His highest honours to the heart belong;
His virtues formed the magic of his song.
The poet William Cowper is buried in St Edmund's Chapel. The chapel lies within St Nicholas' Church in East Dereham and is now known as The Chapel of St Thomas of Canterbury. East Dereham was where Cowper died.
William Hayley was a friend and admirer of William Cowper. Hayley went on to write a biography of Cowper.
There is another famous poem about Cowper's Grave, by the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
