The Christian Year is a series of poems for all the Sundays and some other feasts of the liturgical year of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

written by

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, was named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouce ...

in 1827. The book is the source for several

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

s. It was first published in 1827, and quickly became extremely popular. Though at first anonymous, its authorship soon became known, with the result that Keble was in 1831 appointed

Oxford Professor of Poetry The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time p ...

, a post that he held until 1841. In his book ''Heaven, Hell, and the Victorians'', Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls ''The Christian Year'' simply "the most popular volume of verse in the nineteenth century". In his essay on "

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

Aesthetics and the Romantic Tradition," Gregory Goodwin claims that ''The Christian Year'' is "Keble's greatest contribution to the Oxford Movement and to English literature." As evidence of that, Goodwin cites E. B. Pusey's report that ninety-five editions of this devotional text were printed during Keble's lifetime, and "at the end of the year following his death, the number had arisen to a hundred-and-nine." By the time the copyright expired in 1873, over 375,000 copies had been sold in Britain and 158 editions had been published. Despite its widespread appeal among the Victorian readers, the popularity of Keble's ''The Christian Year'' quickly faded in the twentieth century.

External links

Full text of ''The Christian Year''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Year, The English Christian hymns Christian devotional literature 1827 poems 19th-century Christian texts 1827 poetry books Books about Christianity Books about spirituality Christian festivals and holy days Liturgical calendar Anglican liturgical books