HYMN SPOTLIGHT
Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven (1834)
Henry Francis Lyte, 1793-1847
Lots of earlier hymn writers made paraphrases of The Psalms. But Lyte, who won the prize for poetry three years in a row at Trinity College, Dublin, added a new dimension by making them poetical interpretations. This version of portion of Psalms 103 includes such memorable lines as “Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,” “Father-like He tends and spares us,” and “Frail as summer’s flower we flourish/Blows the wind, and it is gone.”