Grief is itself a medicine.

Cowper’s line suggests that sorrow can have a curative function: grief is not only a symptom of loss but also part of the psyche’s process of adjustment and repair. To call grief “medicine” frames it as something bitter yet beneficial—an experience that, when endured rather than denied, can soften shock, humble pride, and reorient affections toward what truly matters. The phrasing also implies a moral or spiritual dimension common in Cowper’s writing: suffering may work as a corrective, bringing clarity, compassion, or dependence on faith. The quote’s force lies in its paradox—pain as remedy—capturing how emotional anguish can ultimately help heal the deeper wound that caused it.