When I Survey

The words

1. Aaron Williams

   Aaron Williams, compiler of Psalmody in Miniature. Compiler who printed the tune’s earlier form.

   Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

2. Chiasmus

   The rhetorical reversal of sorrow and love in the hymn.

   Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

3. Crucifixion

   The first word of Watts’s title, “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ”. The key word of Watts’s own heading.

   Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

4. Doncaster

   The Yorkshire town where Edward Miller was organist. Home base of the man who arranged ROCKINGHAM.

   Hymnary.org: Tune: ROCKINGHAM (Miller) (opens a new tab)

5. Edward Miller

   Edward Miller, the Doncaster organist who adapted and named ROCKINGHAM.

   Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

6. Eucharist

   Woodbury’s tune paired with the hymn, also called OLIVET.

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7. Galatians

   The Epistle to the Galatians; Watts cited Galatians 6:14.

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8. Good Friday

   Good Friday, when the hymn is widely sung.

   Wikipedia: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (opens a new tab) · Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

9. Long Metre

   Long metre (L.M., 8.8.8.8), the poetic metre of the text and of ROCKINGHAM. The metre shared by Watts’s text and its tunes.

   Hymnary.org: Tune: ROCKINGHAM (Miller) (opens a new tab)

10. Matthew Arnold

    Matthew Arnold (1822–88), English poet and critic. A literary critic’s praise of the hymn.

    library.pepperdine.edu: Hymns of the Season (opens a new tab)

11. Musica Sacra

    The collection printing an early form of the ROCKINGHAM tune.

    Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

12. Paradox

    The hymn’s use of apparent contradiction in gain and loss.

    Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

13. Rockingham

    The hymn tune ROCKINGHAM, the usual British setting of the text.

    Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

14. Tunbridge

    TUNBRIDGE, the earlier name of the tune that became ROCKINGHAM.

    Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)

15. Waly Waly

    The folk tune O WALY WALY (The Water Is Wide), a modern alternative setting. A third common tune for the text.

    Wikipedia: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (opens a new tab)