Modern literary scholar Conrad Brunstrom described Cowper's relationships with women and men at this time as queer and radically anti-heteronormative. "Not only did Cowper refuse a traditional heterosexual role, he also refused many of the attributes attached to those who were supposed to have refused such a role...making him anti-heteronormative and anti-homonormative at one and the same time."[23] Cowper's 18th century understanding of his own predicament was that—being "what the world calls an old bachelor"—he was nevertheless "a rational creature", much abused by those who would make sport of him.[24]
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