Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Great Regulars: The Lord to mee a shepheard is,

want therefore shall not I.
Hee in the folds of tender-grasse,
doth cause mee downe to lie:
To waters calme me gently leads
Restore my soule doth hee:
he doth in paths of righteousnes:
for his names sake leade mee.

The awkwardness is readily apparent, but as Mather (or Cotton) stated in the Preface, the purpose of the refashioned verse is not to arrive at elegant poetry but to make songs out of the psalms, which obviously meant to the clergymen that an abundance of rime was required.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: The Bay Psalm Book--America's First Book

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