Word: hymns
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...Reverend Samuel Gilman class of 1811 had written his most famous hymn in honor of his alma mater’s 200th birthday. “Fair Harvard” would eventually become the melody sung at commencement and the centerpiece of a large and impressive collection of Harvard-inspired tunes. But, in 1994, 136 years after his death, the most famous lyrical change came to pass on Gilman’s original work. Fair Harvard now had “daughters” as well as “sons” and for then-President Neil L. Rudenstine...
...before you wince in pain and cry out that we have already been through this, spent years agonizing over Fair Harvard’s most controversial lyrical change, rest assured: This is not a chauvinist attempt to restore the patriarchal language of our dear hymn. I simply want to suggest correcting one glaring, but easily fixed grammatical and connotative mistake in one of our university’s most cherished traditions...
...which had ended that week. But Cologne had been hijacked by tens of thousands of supporters of Jubilee 2000, a campaign to forgive debts owed by the world's poorest countries. With its roots in Europe's churches, Jubilee 2000 brought together, in a great ring around the city, hymn-singing, sandal-wearing nuns, teenage kids and veterans of progressive politics. As Bono of the rock band U2 puts it, the movement saw "activists, punk rockers and priests marching in step...
...those of you who are unfamiliar with the history of “Fair Harvard”, Gilman’s 172-year-old hymn began with the phrase “Fair Harvard! Thy sons to thy jubilee throng!” Obviously, there is a gender-insensitive term there which prompted Kendric Packer ’48, to propose a contest to Harvard alums to provide a fitting alternative. Simply replacing “sons” with “children” had a belittling connotation and afforded one two many syllables to keep pace with...
...explain. “Fair Harvard” is a delightful hymn describing the excitement of Commencement day. The original language (“thy sons to thy jubilee throng”) indicates that students, admittedly male students, are “thronging” to the “jubilee” of Harvard graduation. The easiest reading of the new verse presents an obvious grammatical problem: “We join in thy jubilee throng,” is essentially saying “we come together at your jubilee.” This complete statement then leaves...