material The poem stops too soon to give full meaning Wrong Use of Subject The subject of Davideis is serious It talks about David and other Bible stories But Cowley added scenes that felt strange He described hell and used speech from Lucifer The poet says Here Lucifer the mighty Captive reigns Proud 'midst his Woes and Tyrant in his Chains These parts looked more like old myths They did not match the main theme Such ideas made the poem dull and heavy These long talks and speeches made readers tired The joy of reading got lost in useless detail Weak Imagery and Style Cowley often used learned references instead of strong pictures He used hard words and strange examples His lines had more thought than beauty The images were weak or unclear He added too many conceits in place of clear ideas Sometimes he left the main subject and went too far The digressions made the poem slow His writing had learning but it lost its poetic charm Lack of True Epic Parts A true epic needs a great plan strong action and full characters But Davideis lacks these parts It has no big battles or deep emotion Johnson said it used tricks from older epics like flashbacks and visions But even with these tools Cowley could not move forward He had no new way to fill the next eight books His methods became weak That may be why he left the work unfinished Heroic Characters Along with many faults Johnson also shows some merits of Cowley He says that Cowley shows David as a true heroic character David has the good qualities we expect in an epic hero He is brave wise and religious Cowley writes I sing the Man who Judahs Scepter bore Who from best Poet best of Kings did grow The two chief gifts Heav'n could on Man bestow David goes through many troubles and tests He faces them with courage and faith This matches the tradition of epic heroes who are great men with noble qualities They play important roles in their nations David s journey from a shepherd to a king gives Cowley a strong and powerful story for heroic poetry In conclusion Johnson showed clearly why Davideis is not a true epic The poem has learning but no strong plan The action is weak the style is hard and the joy is missing Cowley s thoughts were high but his poetry was not full Johnson said the poem may give knowledge but not delight Still Cowley s mind and effort deserve respect His work had value though it failed as an epic