English Congregational Hymns in the Eighteenth CenturyHistorians of the English congregational hymn, focusing on its literary or theological aspects, have usually found the genre out of step with the rationalist era that produced it. This book takes a more balanced approach to the work of four writers and concludes that only eighteenth-century Britain, with its understanding of public verse, common truth, and the utility of poetry, could have invented the English hymn as we know it. The early hymns sought to inspire, teach, stir, and entertain congregations. The essential purpose shifted slightly in line with each poet's setting and in accord with the poetic thought of his day. For Isaac Watts's Independents, powerful traditional imagery was appropriate. Charles Wesley's enthusiasm proceeded from and served the spirit of the revival. John Newton's prophetic vision particularly suited the impoverished community at Olney. William Cowper's masterful handling of formal conventions and his idiosyncratic personal hymns reflect his poetic, rather than clerical, vocation. Despite such temporal variations, the great poetry by each man displays themes of general Christian relevance, suggesting common experience, showing normative features of the genre, and bearing a complex and intriguing relationship to secular literature. |
From inside the book
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... biblical authority, was a startling development in the English tradition. Church of England reservations about admitting hymns to the service understandable. The hymns may be usefully viewed, from a third perspective, as religious ...
... biblical language and allusions. Hymns may be translations of traditional or modern material, wholly original compositions, or any combination of the two. Moreover, the utilitarian aspect of hymns has created and continues to create ...
... biblical sources, and the structure of many hymns. Carefully worked critical editions of some hymns are available. Scholars have traced the influence of particular hymns on Blake and Emily Dickinson. It is a great misfortune that most ...
... biblical, contemporary-political, and everyday—as the work of Providence. Both identification and vision suggest the coming of a new age of poetry. In Newton's many failed hymns, which are little more than versified sermonettes ...
... be exaggerated. It may certainly be anticipated that the kind of church song in universal use, sanctioned by biblical authority and intimately familiar to all worshipers, would provide the paradigm for hymn verse, just as the.
Contents
Self Sense the Revival | |
John Newton Olney Prophet | |
Exemplary Tradition the Loss of Control | |
Conclusion | |
Notes | |
Other editions - View all
English Congregational Hymns in the Eighteenth Century Madeleine Forell Marshall,Janet Todd Limited preview - 1982 |
English Congregational Hymns in the Eighteenth Century Madeleine Forrell Marshall,Janet M. Todd No preview available - 2014 |