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William Cowper: the Man of God's Stamp

Poetic paradox

WILLIAM COWPER:
the man of God's stamp
By George Ella
Joshua Press, Ontario. 240 pages. £9.99
ISBN 1 894400 09 7
(Distributors in the UK are Evangelical Press)

William Cowper (pronounced 'Cooper') is now largely remembered for some of his Olney hymns, and the sacrificial efforts of the great John Newton in trying to steer him through bouts of extremely serious depression.

Because mental illness that makes a man suicidal and convinces him that God has abandoned him is still badly understood, it remains hard to understand Cowper's interesting life and erratic achievements. For instance, why did his Calvinistic theology, which includes final perseverance, fail to protect him from the conviction that God has passed him by?

Certainly non-Christian writers completely fail to do justice to this great man. In 1993 George Ella produced a biographical book. Readers must not think that William Cowper: the man of God's stamp is a shortened edition of the earlier work. In fact, it is not a biography at all. The second sub-title explains that it is a bi-centenary evaluation (Cowper died in 1800), and a 'vindication and appreciation'.

So the 11 chapters explore various aspects of Cowper's life and work in more depth. Any reader who lacks a chronological understanding of the main events in Cowper's life story may well find some of these chapters hard going. Typical themes are: Cowper and fellow poets, Cowper and the fairer sex, Cowper the translator, and so on. Because the author is aiming to vindicate Cowper, there is a lot of criticism of Cowper's critics, but hardly any of Cowper himself. Having said that, Cowper was his own worst enemy.

The book is recommended to the specialist who wants to understand more about this interesting man, and, in particular, how his mental illness affected him. Who among us, even now, can really comprehend how a definite Christian ceased to go to church or to pray for the last 20 years of his life?

D.J. Stephens, Liverpool