Originally published in 1868 by Macmillan & Co., New York. MacDonald wrote that “in this book I have sought to trace the course of our religious poetry from an early period of our literary history.” Its twenty-three chapters begin with sacred lyrics of the 13th century and cover England’s greatest poets through to his own time.
Editions
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From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
Hand-bound cloth cover edition, reproduced from the 1890 edition from Macmillan & Co. with photolithography, and with illustrations by Arthur Hughes from the 1868 edition.
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England’s Antiphon: An Overview by Barbara Amell
It is commonly believed that George MacDonald’s edited Hamlet was the only volume entirely based upon his literary lectures; but this is not accurate. As early as 1860, MacDonald was devoting a lecture to English Sacred Poetry. His England’s Antiphon, described as “An Historical Review of the Religious Poetry of England,” was first published in The Sunday Library October through December 1868, with an exquisite illustration for each installment by MacDonald’s good friend the painter Arthur Hughes. Released in book form in 1869 by Macmillan Press, England’s Antiphon received consistently favorable reviews, both for the wealth of poems restored in the collection and for the author’s commentary. One critic described England’s Antiphon as “the best, most readable, and well-balanced criticism of sacred poetry which could have been devised by the mind of man. The specimens alone are far in excess of the price twenty times told; the patient research and appreciative criticism which the editor has brought to bear entitle him to scarce a lower laurel than the highest of the subjects of his pen.” (Atlas 11/13/1868.)
In addition to providing information on poets whom MacDonald did not commonly lecture upon, England’s Antiphon also offers glimpses into the contents of MacDonald’s extempore lectures on some of his traditional subjects, such as Milton, Tennyson and Wordsworth. “Higher than all Nature can do,” MacDonald wrote in relation to Wordsworth, “in the way of great lessoning, is the production of such holy moods as result in hope, conscience of duty, and supplication. Those who have never felt it have to be told there is in her such a power—yielding to which, the meek inherit the earth.” (p. 304)
Articles about England’s Antiphon
WINGFOLD
Wingfold is a quarterly magazine that restores material by and about George MacDonald, in print since 1993. To subscribe, click here. To request any of the following articles that appear in back issues of Wingfold, contact Barbara Amell at b_amell@q.com.
Winter 2002
1869 Review