An Annotated Anthology of Hymns

This is a selection of 250 of the best-known hymns in the English language, including texts translated from Greek, Latin, and German. An introduction discusses the hymn as a historical and literary artifact and each hymn is printed with notes that set it in context, identify significant sources, and provide explanatory and critical material.

J.R. Watson is Emeritus Professor of English and Emeritus Public Orator of the University of Durham. Twenty years ago he chose for the subject of his Inaugural Lecture, 'The Victorian Hymn'. He was serving at the time on the committee of the Methodist (and Ecumenical) Hymns and Psalms (1983), and later edited, with Kenneth Trickett, the ompanion to Hymns and Psalms (1988). He was a member of the Archbishops' Commission on Church music, and more recently of the editorial committee responsible for the latest revision of Hymns Ancient and Modern, Common Praise (2000). His critical and historical study, The English Hymn, was published by Oxford University Press in 1997 (paperback 1999).