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Travel with CowperPocket-sized poetTRAVEL WITH COWPER ‘And do you still read Cowper?’ says Edmund Bertram to Fanny Price, the self-effacing heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park — a novel begun only 11 years after Cowper’s death in 1800. For many today, Cowper’s poetry may only be an interesting side reference in Jane Austen, while the reality of his Christian experience has been forgotten. This pocket-sized book, designed as both a biographical survey and travel guide, is one of an excellent series which follows the lives of Christian leaders, including Bunyan, Spurgeon and William Carey. In this case the book traces the spiritual pilgrimage of a man who, despite his struggles with severe depressive illness, was to become the most widely read poet of his time in England. Some literary surveys of Cowper’s life denigrate his consciousness of sin as a contributory factor in his depression. However, here the author deals clearly with the process of Cowper’s conversion and the way in which God finally gave him strength to believe in Jesus ‘whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood’. The book also makes clear the loving counsel provided by faithful Christian friends such as Dr. Nathaniel Cotton, John Newton, and Cowper’s lifelong companion, Mary Unwin — and the way in which some of his most memorable writing was ‘out of the depths’ — a response to personal suffering. Each chapter outlines a period in Cowper’s life with locations, followed by maps, travel information, both by road and public transport. Useful details and entry times are given for museums (such as the Cowper and Newton Museum and gardens at Orchardside, where Cowper lived in Olney), as well as lists of associated websites. We are also introduced to some lesser-known places associated with Cowper’s life, such as Mundesley on the Norfolk coast, where it is possible that the rough seas inspired his final poem, ‘The Castaway’, in which many feel that the image of the drowning sailor ‘snatched from all effectual aid’ is autobiographical: But I beneath a rougher sea The visual research and range of photographs is excellent throughout and the attractive layout should encourage Christians to explore their heritage, while opening up the life of a great Christian poet and hymn writer to a wider readership. Anne Roberts,
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