| Can a hymn be great poetry? |
| Written by Andy Judd | |
| Friday, 19 October 2007 | |
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According to Samuel Johnson, hymns cannot be poetry of any calibre. For him there is an irreconcilable conflict between the “essence” of poetry which is invention (“something unexpected [which] surprises and delights” ) and the “paucity” of religious devotional topics which “enforces perpetual repetition” and “rejects ornaments of figurative diction”. He allows the best hymnists only that they have “done better than others what no man has done well”. Understandably, hymn-lovers respond to this with an indignant cry that Johnson is guilty of a basic category error.
Click here to download the pdf file of this essay (originally written as part of University of Sydney English Department Undergraduate Program (Honours)). |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 19 October 2007 ) |