heavens. Cooper's first-person narration begins before the eclipse and then builds up to the grand event.

As the essay opens, the narrator and everyone else in his family are in anticipation of an extraordinary event about to happen. He describes the normal state of the village and its surroundings in the light of this approaching marvel. The morning of the eclipse he sees a single star in the sky, which makes him think of planetary distances. The sun rises in a clear sky, and Cooper's family and friends assemble outside as they would for a special holiday. Some craftsmen continue to work, but when the moon touches the sun, all work ceases and everyone comes outside.

Cooper then pauses for an interlude about a condemned killer who has been taken out of a dark jail cell to witness the eclipse. The wretched, pitiful, guilt-wracked man has been given a brief reprieve, but he had not seen the sun for a year. Cooper writes that "for him the curtain which veils the world beyond the grave had been lifted." The author uses the anecdote of the killer to illustrate the profound spiritual nature of the event.

As the eclipse proceeds, everything familiar becomes shadowed and changed. Stars appear and the moon seems huge. This is when Cooper gives emphasis to his spiritual themes. He writes that he has a clear view of "the majesty of the Almighty, accompanied with a humiliating, and, I trust, a profitable sense of my own utter insignificance."

The darkness is awe-inspiring and frightening, but the reappearance of light is like the mercy of God.

It seemed to speak directly to our spirits, with full assurance of protection, of gracious mercy, and of that Divine love which has produced all the glorious combinations of matter for our enjoyment.

He adds that "at such a moment the spirit of man bows in humility before his Maker." In closing, Cooper sums up his essay's main themes:

Never have I beheld any spectacle which so plainly manifested the majesty of the Creator, or so forcibly taught the lesson of humility to man as a total eclipse of the sun.

In The Eclipse, Cooper tells the story of the total eclipse of the sun that occurred in his village on Lake Otsego on June 16, 1806. He describes the rising excitement as the moment of the eclipse grows nearer and the mid-day skies darken. Gradually, the moon and fifty stars become visible, while the sun is more and more blotted out.

In the midst of this occurrence, a school teacher convicted of murder is brought shackled and miserable from his dungeon to face execution. As the narrator watches this man, he feels that the man, so soon scheduled to die, perceives the eclipse with a spiritual intensity denied to the rest of them.

Fortunately, the condemned man gets a stay of execution, but the speaker experiences more wonder as birds and cows, deceived by the growing darkness, behave as if it is night.

For three minutes, the sun is blotted out and darkness falls. The moon shows in a more vivid way than usual. The speaker is filled with a sense of awe and humility.

Overall, even after the sun returns, the narrator is left with a strong sensation of the power and presence of God. This sensation, brought on by the eclipse, has stayed with him for many years.