When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

The hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, was written by Isaac Watts, and published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. It is significant for being an innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts, although the first two lines of the second verse do paraphrase St Paul at Galatians 6:14 and the second couplet of the fourth verse paraphrases Gal.6:14b I t was published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. . The poetry of “When I survey…” may be seen as English literary baroque. The hymn is usually sung to either “Rockingham” or “Hamburg”, the former being more closely associated with the text in British and Commonwealth hymnals. Another alternative, associated with the text in the 19th and 20th centuries, is Eucharist” by Isaac B. Woodbury. Edward Miller “Rockingham” was written by Edward Miller, the son of a stone mason who ran away from home to become a musician, being a flautist in Händel’s orchestra. It has long been associated with Watt’s text in British and Commonwealth hymnals, first being associated with the text in the seminal Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), and appearing again in the 1906 English Hymnal