'A Hymn', Hymnody and Anne Brontë's Religious Poetry. (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Butterworth, Robert
• Is Part Of: Brontë studies. Volume 47:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 60
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Anne Brontë -- hymns -- hymnody -- religious poetry; Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 823.8
• DOI: 10.1080/14748932.2021.1995241
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1474-8932

Abstract

Abstract : Anne Brontë's 'A Hymn' was written at a time when hymns were 'of the moment' and many women were engaged in hymnody. It shares with Anne's other religious poems a vision of God as mighty, powerful, loving, merciful and actively interventionist, and a vision of humanity as feeble, inadequate, inconstant and inconsistent. It is distinguished by its exploration of two versions of the universe: one informed by God its Creator and the other its Godless alternative. 'A Hymn' has many traditional stylistic features of hymns and on one level belongs to a familiar class of hymn, the hymn of doubt; but it is also radical in facing head-on an atheistic vision emerging in the nineteenth century.