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. |
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... illustrated by Noll's use of Charles Wesley's rallying hymn “Come, O my guilty Brethren, come” as evidence of Wesley's romantic inclinations: Come, O my guilty Brethren, come, Groaning beneath your load of sin! His bleeding heart shall ...
... illustrated as follows. 1. Common measure is the psalm version of the ballad stanza, in which four-line stanzas contain lines of eight, six, eight, and six syllables, rhyming ABAB or ABCB. I was a grovelling creature once And basely ...
... illustrated by the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him ye creatures here below, Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The equal length of the eight-syllable lines in long ...
... illustrated by Watts's hymn describing God the Thunderer: a His Nostrils breathe out fiery Streams, And from his awful Tongue A Sovereign Voice divides the Flames, And Thunder roars along. [LXII, 3] an The draconic heat Instructive Delight.
... illustrated in the visionary hymn XCI, in which the heavenly curtain rises on an enormous tableau of the glorified Christ: 1 O the Delights, the heavenly Joys, The Glories of the Place Where Jesus sheds the brightest Beams Of his O'er ...
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 |