The English Hymn

Abstract

Abstract The English Hymn is a literary form that has been undervalued by literary criticism. This book, subtitled ‘a critical and historical study’, seeks to re‐establish it as a form that deserves serious attention, and which should be taken into account in any attempt to revise the canon of literature. There is a brief discussion of hymn theory, and of the relationship between words and music. The historical coverage begins with the metrical psalms of the Reformation and the sacred poetry of the seventeenth century, and continues through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the publication of Songs of Praise in 1925. A short postscript deals with movements in hymn writing since that time. The book deals with the texts of hymns in the light of church history and changing belief. It establishes the English hymn as a form that is worthy of serious critical consideration, with a significance that takes it from being a part of church worship to being as valid a statement of human aspiration and emotion as other forms of literature can be.

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