Isaac Watts, Divine Songs for the Use of Children

Katherine Wakely-Mulroney (University of Cambridge)

Ed. by Louise Joy, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1715

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Children's Literature
Poetry (any)

Resources

“What sweeter book to me belongs / Than Dr. Watts’ book of songs?” These lines, taken from an 1836 song book (A Course of Lessons 51), refer to Isaac Watts’ Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children, first published in 1715 (the amended title, Divine and Moral Songs, did not appear until 1794 (Pafford 44)). One of the most popular children’s texts ever written, Divine Songs went through twenty editions in Watts’ lifetime, with over six hundred known British and American editions published between 1715 and 1901 and an estimated eight million copies sold (Pafford 1-2). The first American edition was published in 1719, and elements of the text were reproduced in the New-…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2859 words

Citation: Wakely-Mulroney, Katherine. "Divine Songs for the Use of Children". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 January 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5534, accessed 26 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Save this article