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Q&A
Is there a convention about the use of Old English in Hymns? Is it wrong to modernise the words?
The language of old hymns is often richer and more poetic than modern hymns, that may be why their language has been maintained. "Bethlem" and "o'er" seem to me like contracted words used to fit t...
Answer
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T12:58:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48075 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
DancingDino
·
2019-12-08T12:58:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
The language of old hymns is often richer and more poetic than modern hymns, that may be why their language has been maintained. "Bethlem" and "o'er" seem to me like contracted words used to fit the meter of the song that accompanies the lyrics. "Blesséd" may just be indicating that the word is two syllables instead of "blessed" (pronounced "blest"), again, for the purpose of fitting a meter.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-09-19T19:44:54Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 5