Addison, Jospeh
b: May 1, 1672; Milston, near Aylesbury, Wiltshire
d: June 17, 1719; Kensington, London
Education
- Educated at Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford (BA 1691, MA 1693)
Highlights & Accomplishments
- Wrote the poem The Campaign (1704) to celebrate the Duke of Marlborough‘s victory at Blanheim
- Extremely active politically in Whig circles
- Later on he became a Member of Parliament and an Under-Secretary of State
- Known for his collaborations with Sir Richard Steele in The Tatler (1709-11), and in The Spectator (1711-1712)
*JRW wrote, “Addison’s writing is noble and uplifting, dignified and balanced. He believed in the power of religion to bring happiness, not in any superficial way but in a deep and settled spiritual content…His hymns on the providence of God reflect the intellectual ideas of his time, particularly the discoveries of Newtonian physics, and they also suggest a mind at peace with itself, in which reason and religious experience go together. There is little anguish in Addison’s hymns: rather a recognition that, whatever the human state, religion can make it more acceptable and even cheerful. He is also a hymn writer who can express, as well as anyone, the emotion of gratitude.”
*JRW. “Joseph Addison.” The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 11 Jul. 2017.<http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/joseph-addison>.
**Request a correction or addition to this article by emailing us at hymns4worship@gmail.com
Hymns for Worship review these requests regularly and updates will be published as soon as possible
Like this? Share it!
Finding things here useful?
If you find any joy and value in this site, please consider becoming a Recurring Patron with a sustaining monthly donation of your choosing. Hymns for Worship remains free (and ad-free), but it takes a lot of love labor to sustain this online ministry. Your support really matters. Please consider donating!
