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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... Olney Prophet Newton at Olney History & Prophecy Of Things to Come V. William Cowper: Exemplary Tradition & the Loss of Control Master Craftsman Cowper's Private Vision VI. Conclusion Notes Index The Congregational Hymn: Requirements ...
... Olney. This specificity and Newton's image of himself as priest distinguish his hymns from the work of his predecessors. His best hymns contain direct, powerful images, laden with significance derived either from Newton's own life story ...
... love model recur, to a lesser degree, in Wesley's hymns and in the Olney collection. No substantial proof of the young Watts's familiarity with German models is available; but if Cowper's “fountain fill'd with blood” and Paul Gerhardt's.
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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 |