William Cowper: The Man of God's Stamp [Paperback]

George Melvyn Ella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2001

William Cowper was an eighteenth-century Evangelical poet and translator, reowned for his celebrated gifts and genius. He is considered one of the most skillful poets and hymn-writers that England has ever produced. Although highly-acclaimed for his poetry in literary and religious circles, the difficult life and deep faith of Cowperhave frequently been misunderstood and misinterpreted. In this volume, Dr. George Ella takes a fresh look at the poet and shows how God's stamp thoroughliy penetrated Cowper's verse. From the themes, inspiration and theology of his poetry, Dr.Ella shows how that stamp extended throughout Cowper's entire life and even his periods of depression. With his scholarly analysis and theological understanding of Cowper, Dr. Ella paints a beautiful portrait of the man, his God and the depths of Cowper's literacy gifts. This book will make you want to read more of Cowper's poetry and learn more of Cowper's God!

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About the Author

Dr. George M. Ella was born in England and as a teenager moved to Sweden to continue his training as a forestry apprentive. After his conversion, he returned to England to study theology. While a student at the London Bible College, he attended the worship sevices of the well-known Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Upon graduation at London and Hull Universities, he worked as a schoolteacher and evangelist among the Lapps. For the last thirty years, Dr. Ella has lived in Germany near the Dutch border.

His career has included work as a senior civil servant, university examiner, editor, and writer of curricula on library management, religion and retailing for the federal state's commercial colleges. After adding various degrees in modern languages, business, education, history, psychology and library science, he gained a doctorate in English literature. Dr. Ella has written a number of books, including biographies of James Hervey, John Gill, William Huntington and Augustus Toplady. His magnum opus is an exhaustive biography of the poet William Cowper entitled Poet of Paradise.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Joshua Press (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894400097
• ISBN-13: 978-1894400091
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #709,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much arguing,, July 15, 2004

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T Bethune (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: William Cowper: The Man of God's Stamp (Paperback)

This biography of William Cowper was clearly written by one who has, through extensive research and study, developed a great affection for him. The biggest problem with this book is that the author spends too much time "arguing" with those who do not share such affection.

There is a lot of print given to defending Cowper against critics who have either dismissed his faith as simply conforming to what was expected of him at the time, as the cause or effect of his mental illness, or simply irrelevant to his poetry. Those who have read the work of such scholars will be glad to see this account that takes Cowper's faith at face value and does not try to dismiss or devalue it. This was important, and I am glad Dr. Ella did it, but the method he used was a point/counterpoint style and I found myself feeling like I was at a ping pong match. Those of us who are committed Christians are used to the hostility of those who are not (particularly in the academic world) and it was not necessary to quote them as extensively as he did.

The chapter titled "Cowper the Calvinist" ostensibly sets out to prove that Cowper was a Calvinist (which it does) but in it, the author also offers a rigorous defense of Calvinism. While defending and explaining Calvinism, Dr. Ella accuses Armenians such as John Wesley of being hypocritical and wrongheaded in their theology. Given the widespread respect Mr. Wesley has even among those that disagree with some of the points of his theology, this seems harsh. Anyone not of a Reformed denomination will feel attacked and, more than likely, offended by this chapter.

Over all I feel like I know a little more about the life of William Cowper, particularly the influence the women in his life had on him, but a lot more about Dr. Ella's veiws on matters of faith, theology and the previous academic treatment of the poet.

This book would have been a lot better if the author had simply made his case for his interpretation of Cowper's life and then moved on. I was looking for an uplifting book to remind me of what the life touched by God can be and instead I read what felt like several acrimonious debates.