Old words and poetic devices

Old words. The poem uses archaic words: words no longer in everyday use, which poets keep for an old, solemn feel.

The set to learn:

• thou = you (as the subject): 'Thou art my friend.'
• art = are;
• thee = you (as the object): 'I trust thee.'
• thy = your: 'Thy kindness is great.'
• thine = yours: 'everything that is mine is thine.'

So 'Thine is the bounty that prospered our sowing' means 'Yours is the bounty…' Swap these words in, and the poem opens up.

More archaic words:

• morrow = tomorrow;
• hither = here;
• quoth = said;
• betwixt = between;
• yonder = over there.

Poetic devices in the hymn:

• alliteration (a repeated consonant sound): 'bright and munificent lord of the morn'; 'our lives and our labours';
• personification (giving human qualities to something not human): 'sweet and omnipotent mother, O Earth', with 'the plentiful bosom that feeds us';
• imagery (words you can see): 'The wealth of our valleys, new-garnered and ripe';
• metaphor (a comparison without 'like' or 'as'): 'Thou art the Seed and the Scythe of our harvests': God is the beginning and the end of every harvest.

Repetition runs through every stanza: 'the gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit'; 'Thine is the bounty… Thine is the bounty'; 'Thine is the mercy… Thine is the mercy'.

Why repeat? A hymn is sung by many voices, and repeated lines help a crowd sing together. They also stress the one big idea: everything we have was given to us.