The poem Amazing Grace by John Newton happens to be one of the most famous poems ever known in the world. It is recited in many forms one of it being in song. Amazingly many people know it as a song and not as a poem. Apparently it is sung or recited in religious circles thereby playing a very important role in worship and therefore has affected the lives of very many people. The poem itself is very interesting and engaging when it is looked at from the literary point of view as the elements that make it amazing include its image, content and its form too (Aitken 2007). It is for these attributes that the poem Amazing Grace a very significant piece of art throughout history
Amazing Grace is a very special piece of poetry in regard to its form. It is special because it takes the form of a song. This means that it is lyrical or rather hymnal and therefore the lyrical connotations to it are more powerful than just reading or reciting it. Maybe if we define lyrical in this context then it will be easier to understand what this really means; a lyric poem is normally written in order to praise supernatural powers, spirit or deity (Wood 2003). When this is the case, there are very high chances that people wanting to hear or read the poem because it is appealing and funnily enough many will want to hear it and not just reading it.
Another element in this poem that is interesting in the poem is its content. There is a kind of powerful voice that comes with the words as they are uttered out in song. This is the main reason as to why it is said to be very common and loved in religious circles. There is a voice or sound that Newton says changed his life and it is from his inspiration that souls are changed today. There is a specific sound that saved a wretch like him for he was lost at some point (Clugston 2010).
The image painted by this poem is also amazing because it triggers the imagination of the singer or hearer of the lyrics. The picture painted here especially from the first stanza is that of a sinner or lost soul who has a very bad and wicked past. But with all that he has gone through he manages to find the grace of God which eventually delivers him from his evil past. The man was saved and therefore found deliverance which is painted as a beautiful thing to have too.
When I look at these elements in totality, I am marvel at the beauty of the poem and how it speaks to a person’s inner soul. The form of this poem together with the overall image created in me evoked in me strong feelings about grace and what it is all about. By the mere fact that the grace has been personified and given an image helped me look at the poem from a realistic point of view. I will do this poem justice by stating that it caused me to mainly focus on the content because it is that which speaks to the heart and how well the content has been presented to the reader or the listener of the poem when it is sung. The image of the sinful Newton compliments the song as it shows how the transformation took place from the sinner that he was to a man who had been saved and therefore changed from bad to good.
References
Aitken, J. (2007). John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace. Wheaton: Crossway Books
Clugstone R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education
Wood, Marcus. (2003). The Poetry of Slavery: An Anglo-American Anthology, 1764- 1865. Oxford: Oxford University press.
