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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...

posted 5y ago by DancingDino‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar 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 user avatar 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 user avatar System‭ · 2019-09-19T19:44:54Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 5