John Greenleaf Whittier

An American Quaker poet of the nineteenth century, Whittier wrote for conscience as much as for the page. Anti-slavery poems and New England narratives made his name; later readers kept the quieter stanzas that fit worship. Dear Lord and Father of Mankind comes from the close of The Brewing of Soma, where the noise of false ecstasy gives way to ordered peace and a plea to be taken back to simple trust. Set to Parry’s Repton, it has become a standard of measured devotion. O Brother Man folds doctrine into neighbourly duty: right worship is love of one another, each kindness a prayer. On these recordings the words stand among other well-known hymns, carried by choir and organ rather than by literary reputation. The diction stays direct, the moral tone warm without ornament, and the music finds in that plainness room to breathe.