Divine and Moral Songs

Divine and Moral Songs for Children became a ubiquitous children’s book throughout England for nearly two hundred years. By the mid-19th century, the book existed in over a thousand editions. So well-known were some of the children’s poems that Lewis Carroll parodied them in Alice in Wonderland and Charles Dickens referenced them in David Copperfield. Modern readers (or singers), however, remember Watts’ songbook not so much for its rhymes for children, but for its hymns. For many Christian families throughout the English-speaking world, Isaac Watts—author of “Joy to the World” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”—remains a household name.

Kathleen O’Bannon
CCEL Staff