Missives

Some carols endure beyond the volume of work from prolific poets, such as Cecil Alexander’s “Once in Royal David’s City”.  Born in Ireland in 1818, Cecil Frances Humphries soon developed her innate skills by writing poetry in her school’s journal. She was so capable that by the age of 22, several of her hymns appeared in the hymnbook of the Church of Ireland.  At age 32 she married Rev. William Alexander who eventually became the chief bishop of Ireland.

A rarity for women of her day, she extended a deep care for charity and social causes. Historian B. Polman notes “she showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf.”

Concerning her impressive volume of hymns, Polman recounts that “Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a ‘Christian Year’ for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and prayer, writing in simple language for children. Her more than four hundred hymn texts were published in Verses from the Holy Scripture (1846), Hymns for Little Children (1848), and Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858).” 

Historian John Julian lists her other major works. “Mrs. Alexander's hymns and poems number nearly 400. They are mostly for children, and were published in her Verses for Holy Seasons, 1846; Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, pt. i. 1854, pt. ii. 1857; Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853; The Legend of the Golden Prayers, 1859; Moral Songs, N.B.; The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an Allegory, &c.; or contributed to the Lyra Anglicana, the S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, Hymns Ancient & Modern, and other collections.”

“Some of the narrative hymns are rather heavy … but a large number remain which have won their way to the hearts of the young, and found a home there. Such hymns as ‘In Nazareth in olden time,’ ‘All things bright and beautiful,’ ‘Once in Royal David's City,’ ‘There is a green hill far away,’ ‘Jesus calls us o'er the tumult,’ ‘The roseate hues of early dawn,’ and others … are deservedly popular. Mrs. Alexander has also written hymns of a more elaborate character; but it is as a writer for children that she has excelled.” [1]

‘Once in Royal David’s City’ is based on the words of the Apostle’s Creed, originally written in six stanzas of six lines each.  Dr. Hawn, Professor of sacred music at SMU, provides an interesting analysis of the carol.  “This is one of Alexander’s most narrative and vivid texts, shattering perceptions of the picturesque Nativity with the realities of the lowly stable, and the weak and dependent baby. The hymn’s controversial nature comes from the language expressing the cultural patronizing of children during the Victorian era (words such as ‘little,’ ‘weak’ and ‘helpless’ are ones found particularly appalling in a 21st-century context).

In the spirit of the Romantic poetic era, Alexander speculates in stanza three that Jesus was ‘little, weak, and helpless’ when there is no biblical account to support this. To the contrary, the one biblical witness we have of Jesus’ boyhood in Luke 2:41-52 indicates that he strayed from his parents and caused quite a stir in the temple when teachers were astonished at His understanding and answers.  (Luke 2:47)

One could make a case that Alexander’s third stanza was more concerned with supporting Victorian child-rearing principles—children as submissive and ‘seen, but not heard’ — rather than providing an accurate account of Jesus’ life. On the other hand, the child who is God incarnate surely felt the human and childlike feelings that all children face.

The final stanza moves from actual childhood to a metaphorical family in which we are all children of God. The poet explores the paradox that this ‘child, so dear and gentle’ is actually the ‘Lord in heaven’ who ‘leads his children on the place where he has gone.’

The original final stanza explores another paradox—the journey from the ‘lowly stable’ to a place ‘at God’s right hand.’ The little child who sings this song then joins the throngs in heaven who will shine ‘like stars’.” [2]  Who would have thought that a ministry to young people would yield fruit enduring down to our day?