"All Things Bright and Beautiful" is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

, also sung in many other Christian denominations. The words are by

Cecil Frances Alexander Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "All Things Bright and Beautiful", " There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's Ci ...

and were first published in her ''Hymns for Little Children'' of 1848. The hymn is commonly sung to the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrai ...

, composed by

William Henry Monk William Henry Monk (16 March 1823 – 1 March 1889) was an English organist, church musician and music editor who composed popular hymn tunes, including "Eventide", used for the hymn "Abide with Me", and "All Things Bright and Beautiful". He ...

in 1887. Another popular tune is , adapted from a 17th-century English folk tune, "The 29th of May".

History

The hymn was first published in 1848 in Mrs Cecil Alexander's ''Hymns for Little Children''. It consists of a series of stanzas that elaborate upon the clause of the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed ( Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

that describes God as "maker of heaven and earth", and has been described as asserting a

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

view of the natural world. It has been suggested that a number of sources may have influenced Alexander's composition. The hymn may have been inspired by

Psalm 104 Psalm 104 is the 104th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great". In Latin, it is known as "Benedic anima mea Domino". In the slightly different ...

, verses 24 and 25: "Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts". The hymn may have been inspired as well by a verse from

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lak ...

's ''

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of '' Lyrical Ball ...

'': "He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all." Alternatively, inspiration may have come from

William Paley William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English clergyman, Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work ''Natu ...

's ''

Natural Theology Natural theology, once also termed physico-theology, is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics (such as the existence of a deity) based on reason and the discoveries of science. This distinguishes it from ...

'', published in 1802, that argues for God as the designer of the natural world. For example, the hymn's second verse alludes to "wings" and verse 7 refers to "eyes". Paley cited wings and eyes as examples of complexity of design, analogous to that of a watch, with God as the Divine Watchmaker. Inspiration for Alexander's hymn text "The purple-headed mountain, The river running by" has been attributed to four separate locations in Wales, Ireland and England. Alexander visited

Llanwenarth House Llanwenarth House is a small country house, formerly a hotel, located off the B4246 road, west of Govilon and Llanfoist, just south of Abergavenny in the Usk valley of Monmouthshire, Wales. It was built in the late 16th century, although the dra ...

Govilon Govilon ( cy, Gofilon) is a small Welsh village located between Llanfoist and Gilwern near Abergavenny in north Monmouthshire. It is part of the community of Llanfoist Fawr. the population was 1,447 in 2011. Attractions The Monmouthshire a ...

, Monmouthshire in 1848, and according to this claim, the hymn refers to the nearby

Sugar Loaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a ...

or the

Blorenge Blorenge, also called The Blorenge (; cy, Blorens), is a prominent hill overlooking the valley of the River Usk near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, southeast Wales. It is situated in the southeastern corner of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Th ...

mountains, and to the

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it ...

. She is also known to have visited Markree Castle near

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the largest urban ce ...

, and some sources link Alexander's text with the surrounding gardens there. Alexander's travels also took her to the nearby village of Dunster in Somerset in 1848, and the landscape of Grabbist Hill and the

River Avill The River Avill is a small river on Exmoor in Somerset, England. It rises on the eastern slopes of Dunkery Beacon and flows north through Timberscombe and Dunster flowing into the Bristol Channel at Dunster Beach. It runs South-West of Mineh ...

are also claimed to be her inspiration. However, a more credible account is given by Sir John Heygate of Bellarena House in County Londonderry, which links the hymn to the many visits paid by the Alexanders to what was then the Gage family residence, a family into which Sir John's ancestor -Sir Frederick Heygate-married in 1850. Writing in 1973, Sir John attributed "the purple headed mountain" to nearby Benevenagh, and "the river running by" to the River Roe which flows past Bellerena House. Sir John had heard the story from the late Sir Norman Stronge, speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons, whose family also had ties to the area. File:Sugarloaf.JPG, The

Sugar Loaf, Monmouthshire Sugar Loaf, sometimes called The Sugar Loaf ( cy, Mynydd Pen-y-fâl or ), is a hill situated north-west of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales and sits within the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is the southernmost of the summit peaks of the ...

File:RiverUskAbergavenny.jpg,

, Monmouthshire, with the

running by File:Markree Castle.jpg, Markree Castle gardens File:View towards Grabbist Hill (geograph 5910707).jpg, Grabbist Hill, Somerset File:View north east from Gallox Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 924840.jpg, the

, Somerset File:Seacoast Road looking towards Binevnagh - geograph.org.uk - 910906.jpg,

Benevenagh Binevenagh () is a mountain in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It marks the western extent of the Antrim Plateau formed around 60 million years ago by molten lava. The plateau and steep cliffs extend for over 6 miles across the peninsula ...

, County Londonderry File:Río Roe. Parque del Condado del Valle del Roe. Irlanda del Norte. Reino Unido.jpg, River Roe, County Londonderry The third verse makes reference to "The rich man in his castle,/The poor man at his gate", and asserts that their social positions have been ordained by God. It has been interpreted as an expression of the theological view that society is ordered and upheld by

Divine providence In theology, Divine Providence, or simply Providence, is God's intervention in the Universe. The term ''Divine Providence'' (usually capitalized) is also used as a title of God. A distinction is usually made between "general providence", which ...

. This view of social strata has been linked to Alexander's identity as an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

person affirming the existing social order in the midst of the

Irish famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

. An alternative interpretation of the third verse holds that Alexander was expressing the equality of rich and poor in the eyes of God. A comparable text in Alexander's ''Verses for Holy Seasons'' (1846) makes reference to "The poor man in his straw-roofed cottage,/The rich man in his lordly hall" and states that their prayers to God are of equal importance: "He listens, and He answers all". Nevertheless, the sentiments of this verse are generally considered to be outdated and many later versions and performances of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" omit the third verse. Percy Dearmer omitted this verse from '' The English Hymnal'' (1906); he was sympathetic to

Christian socialism Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe ca ...

and stated that the words reflected the "passivity and inertia at the heart of the British Establishment in the face of huge inequalities in Edwardian society". Dearmer questioned whether Alexander had remembered the parable of the

Rich man and Lazarus The rich man and Lazarus (also called the parable of Dives and Lazarus or Lazarus and Dives) is a parable of Jesus from the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Speaking to his disciples and some Pharisees, Jesus tells of an unnamed rich man a ...

(), and attributed her view of the world to her having "been brought up in the atmosphere of a land-agent on an Irish estate". The revised edition of ''

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitabl ...

'', published in 1950, also omits this verse.

Words

Alexander's text reads: :1. :''All things bright and beautiful,'' :''All creatures great and small,'' :''All things wise and wonderful,'' :''The Lord God made them all. :2. :Each little flower that opens, :Each little bird that sings, :He made their glowing colours, :He made their tiny wings. :''All things bright ...'' :3. :The rich man in his castle, :The poor man at his gate, :God made them, high or lowly, :And ordered their estate. :''All things bright ...'' :4. :The purple-headed mountain, :The river running by, :The sunset and the morning, :That brightens up the sky. :''All things bright ...'' :5. :The cold wind in the winter, :The pleasant summer sun, :The ripe fruits in the garden,− :He made them every one: :''All things bright ...'' :6. :The tall trees in the greenwood, :The meadows where we play, :The rushes by the water, :We gather every day;− :''All things bright ...'' :7. :He gave us eyes to see them, :And lips that we might tell, :How great is God Almighty, :Who has made all things well. :''All things bright ...'' :(Amen) The

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

includes a fourth verse: :The

rocky mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

splendour, :the lone wolf's haunting call, :the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and the

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

s, :the forest in the fall.

Musical setting

The hymn is often sung to the

, composed by

in 1887. It is also frequently sung to the tune , a melody that was adapted from a 17th-century folk tune, "The Twenty-Ninth of May", published in '' The Dancing Master'' in 1686. The melody may have political origins in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, and its name is thought to be a reference to the Royal Oak, a tree at

Boscobel, Shropshire Boscobel is a civil parish in the east of Shropshire, England, on the border with Staffordshire. To the north is the Staffordshire village of Bishops Wood. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 12.King Charles II hid himself in 1651. This tune was first arranged for the hymn by

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series '' The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles in '' ...

in 1916, published in his book for children, Song Time. This arrangement became widely associated with the hymn after it was included in

Songs of Praise (hymnal) ''Songs of Praise'' is a 1925 hymnal compiled by Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The popular '' English Hymnal'' of 1906 was considered too 'High church' by many people, and a new book on broader lines was indicated. It ...

. There have also been other adaptations, such as a full choral piece by

John Rutter John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...

. In earlier editions of the Church of Scotland's ''Church Hymnary'', the tunes "God in Nature" by John Stainer and "All Things Bright" by Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley had been used. The chorus has been recommended as a Christian song for children to learn, even for children as young as five years of age. Another tune used in the

Apostolic Christian Church of America The Apostolic Christian Church of America is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, based in the United States, and a branch of the Apostolic Christian Church. The denomination consists of approximately 90 congregations in the United States, Jap ...

was composed by Mary Yergler Rassi.

Cultural legacy

In the 20th century, the writer

James Herriot James Alfred Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to Eng ...

used lines from the hymn as titles for his series of veterinary story collections, ''All Creatures Great and Small'' (1972), ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' (1974), ''All Things Wise and Wonderful'' (1977) and ''The Lord God Made Them All'' (1981). Material from his books has also been adapted as a film, '' All Creatures Great and Small'' (1975), as a television series of the same name in 1978 and another in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. For the 1970 science fiction film ''

Beneath the Planet of the Apes ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' is a 1970 American science fiction film directed by Ted Post and written by Paul Dehn. It is the second of five films in the original ''Planet of the Apes'' series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. The film stars Ja ...

'', composer

Leonard Rosenman Leonard Rosenman (September 7, 1924 – March 4, 2008) was an American film, television and concert composer with credits in over 130 works, including '' East of Eden'', ''Rebel without a Cause'', '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'', ''Beneath th ...

composed a discordant version of the hymn, rewritten for a dystopian cult who worship a

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

. The hymn was parodied by the

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...

comedy troupe A comedy troupe is a group of comedians and associated personnel who work together to perform comedy as entertainment. The term is often used interchangeably with comedy group, and the troupe may specialize in a specific genre or style of comedy ...

in their 1980 album ''

Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album ''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album'' is the final studio album by Monty Python, released in 1980. As the title suggests, the album was put together to complete a contract with Charisma Records. Besides newly written songs and sketches ...

''; Alexander's text is inverted and a choir sings in praise of "All Things Dull And Ugly" to Monk's melody. Dennis Potter's TV serial '' Pennies from Heaven'' included a scene with a group of school children singing the hymn, but as part of the dark streak in the serial, it included the controversial third verse.

References

External links

* *
All Things Bright and Beautiful
at

Hymnary.org Hymnary.org is an online database of hymns, hymnodists and hymnals hosted by Calvin College's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The searchable database contains over one million hymn tunes and texts ...

Words & music
at the Cyber Hymnal * performed by The Charlottesville Baroque Ensemble {{DEFAULTSORT:All Things Bright And Beautiful English Christian hymns 1848 songs 19th-century hymns English children's songs Works about creationism