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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... influence of Handel on hymn music. In 1745 John Wesley met J. F. Lampe, a bassoon player at Covent Garden, and a year later the converted Lampe edited the music of Hymns for the Greater Festivals, which demonstrated the “operatic-aria ...
... influential. The antecedents of hymns are best examined for clues to the presence of emotion in poetry when it may be unexpected. Third, the Augustan era is unjustly accused of lacking “emphasis on feeling and personal experience.” The ...
... influences other aspects of popular literary taste. Such investigation is, however, contingent on the careful definition and placement of hymns. Meanwhile, tribal-lyrical suggestions regarding hymns are only confusing; they ignore the ...
... influence of psalms was a constant, as psalms were sung throughout the century. Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley both paraphrased the psalms, a task that they viewed as part of the hymn-writing venture. The metrical limitations within ...
... of its people. To this end, it is necessary to examine certain German hymns as a second continuing influence, after the psalms, on the development of the hymn in England.17 This is a complex Other Models & Precedents.
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 |