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Advent Hymnals

Hymns and Tunes 1886 174

The starry firmament on high

Words: Anon169, 266, 56

Studio

1The starry firmament on high,
And all the glories of the sky,
Yet shine not to thy praise, O Lord,
So brightly as thy written word.

2The hopes that holy word supplies,
Its truths divine and precepts wise,
In each a heav'nly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to thee.

3Almighty Lord, the sun shall fail,
The moon her borrowed glory veil,
And deepest reverence hush on high
The joyful chorus of the sky.

4But fixed for everlasting years,
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,
Thy word shall shine in cloudless day,
When heav'n and earth have passed away.

Words
Anon
Meter
169, 266, 56

Public Domain

The verse

Meter
8.8.8.8 · the hymnal prints 169, 266, 56
Foot
iambic (da-DUM) · 71% of beats fit
Rhyme
AABB
Scan every line

/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary

Verse 1

The starry firmament on high,˘//???˘/8A
And all the glories of the sky,˘/˘/˘˘˘/8A
Yet shine not to thy praise, O Lord,//˘˘//˘/8B
So brightly as thy written word.˘/˘˘//˘/8C

Verse 2

The hopes that holy word supplies,˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
Its truths divine and precepts wise,˘/˘/˘///8A
In each a heav'nly beam I see,˘/˘/˘/˘/8B
And every beam conducts to thee.˘/˘˘/˘/˘/9B

Verse 3

Almighty Lord, the sun shall fail,˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
The moon her borrowed glory veil,˘/˘///˘/8A
And deepest reverence hush on high˘/˘/˘˘/˘/9B
The joyful chorus of the sky.˘/˘/˘˘˘/8B

Verse 4

But fixed for everlasting years,˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,˘/˘/˘/˘/8A
Thy word shall shine in cloudless day,//˘/˘/˘/8B
When heav'n and earth have passed away.//˘/˘/˘/8B

Counted by machine from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. It cannot hear emphasis or a poet’s licence, so treat it as a place to start reading, not the last word.