Thomas Hornblower Gill, an English hymn writer who is slowly gaining recognition in current hymnals—_The Revised Presbyterian Hymnal_ has five of his hymns—gives his conception of what hymns should be, in his preface to his first volume, issued in 1868. He insists that the true hymn is a true poem in every case, while it is debarred from liberties of luxuriance which may be claimed by other poetry. “It may easily be too figurative; it cannot be too glowing or imaginative... They should exhibit all the qualities of a good song—liveliness and intensity of feeling, directness, clearness and vividness of utterance, strength, sweetness, and simplicity and melody of rhythm: excessive subtlety and excessive ornament should be alike avoided.”
Not the slightest handicap is the necessity of choosing a form of stanza that will at the same time fit the writer’s sentiment and be adapted to singable tunes known to the congregations which are to be lyrically served. This range of form is quite limited. Most of these tunes call for iambic or trochaic measure, because anapaestic or dactylic numbers lack the dignity and the impressiveness necessary for general hymns.
The form of the stanza may take the elevated, heavy “Long” Meter, the more widely expressive “Common” Meter, the sententious “Short” Meter, “Sevens and Sixes,” “Eights and Sevens,” plain “Sevens” or “Sixes,” or the more lively “Sixes and Fours” or “Sixes and Fives.”[6]
These different meters have very marked characteristics. It is really marvelous how the instinct of true hymn writers in all generations has unconsciously, or at most subconsciously, taken account of them and with practical unanimity observed them.
The Long Meter is stately and dignified. It is the fit expression of noble praise like the Long Meter Doxology, “Lord of all being, throned afar,” “From all that dwell below the skies,” “Before Jehovah’s awful throne,” or elevated sentiment like “God is the refuge of His saints,” “When I survey the wondrous cross,” and “’Tis midnight, and on Olive’s brow.” Its long, even lines, broken by no strong stops, afford a smooth, graceful expression for general truths and Christian doctrine in poetic form, such as “O Jesus, our chief cornerstone,” “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” and “O Love! how deep, how broad, how high!”