Hymns and Tunes 1886 247
Thy holy day's returning
Words: Christopher Wordsworth
1Thy holy day's returning
Our hearts exult to see,
And, with devotion burning,
Ascend, great God, to thee.
To-day, with praise elating,
Our thoughts from earth withdraw;
We gather for heavenly treasure,
We learn thy holy law.
2We join to sing thy praises,
O God of Sabbath-day!
Each voice in gladness raises
Its loudest, sweetest lay.
Thy richest mercies sharing,
Inspire us with thy love;
By grace our souls preparing
For nobler praise above.
Public Domain
The verse
- Meter
- 7.7.7.6.7.7.9.6
- Foot
- iambic (da-DUM) · 51% of beats fit
- Rhyme
- ABABCDED
Scan every line
/ stressed · ˘ unstressed · ? not in the dictionary
Verse 1
Thy holy day's returning//˘/˘/˘7A
Our hearts exult to see,/˘/˘/˘/7B
And, with devotion burning,˘˘˘/˘/˘7A
Ascend, great God, to thee.˘///˘/6B
To-day, with praise elating,˘/˘/˘/˘7C
Our thoughts from earth withdraw;/˘/˘/˘/7D
We gather for heavenly treasure,˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘9E
We learn thy holy law.˘///˘/6D
Verse 2
We join to sing thy praises,˘/˘///˘7A
O God of Sabbath-day!˘/˘???6B
Each voice in gladness raises//˘/˘/˘7A
Its loudest, sweetest lay.˘/˘/˘/6C
Thy richest mercies sharing,//˘///˘7D
Inspire us with thy love;//˘˘//6E
By grace our souls preparing˘//˘/˘/˘8D
For nobler praise above.˘/˘/˘/6E
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.