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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... passion they may be, may only be described as their impersonality. Religious verse that proceeds spontaneously, from the soul, as the private expression of the individual, is wholly inappropriate for congregational use. Even if the ...
... and educator, whose prose and piety won him the admiration of Dr. Johnson. He wrote treatises on the religious discipline of the passions, the practice of prayer, and the right use of logic. He wrote as well some 200 hymns,
... Passions awaken'd in those Poems? The Martyrdom of Polyeucte, how doth it reign over our Love and Pity, and at the same time animate our Zeal and Devotion!” (p. xii). Love and pity, the accepted audience responses to tragedy, become ...
... Passions, our Love, our Fear, our Hope, our Desire, our Sorrow, our Wonder and our Joy, as they are refin'd into Devotion, and act under the Influence and Conduct of the Blessed Spirit. [P. liii] Watts provided poetic expression for ...
... passions. This double vision is combined with a distinctly eighteenth-century view of literary moral purpose and affective-didactic method. Readers, or singers, were to be moved toward virtuous understanding, in this case devotional ...
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 |