The year begins with Thee

Author: John Keble

Keble, John, M.A., was born at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, on St. Mark's Day, 1792. His father was Vicar of Coln St. Aldwin's, about three miles distant, but lived at Fairford in a house of his own, where he educated entirely his two sons, John and Thomas, up to the time of their entrance at Oxford. In 1806 John Keble won a Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, and in 1810 a Double First Class, a distinction which up to that time had been gained by no one except Sir Robert Peel. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of Oriel, a very great honour, especially for a boy under 19 years of age; and in 1811 he won the University Prizes both for the English and Latin Essays. It is somewhat remarkable that amid this brilliantly successful career,… Go to person page >

The year begins with Thee. J. Keble. [Circumcision.] Written June 20, 1824, and 1st published in his Christian Year, 1827, in 17 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed with the text "In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." In its full form it is not in common use. It has, however, supplied the following centos to modern hymnbooks:— (1) "The year begins [began] with Thee." In several collections; (2) "Art Thou a child of tears? " and “Is there a mourner true? " In a few collections only. The poem as a whole is better adapted for private devotion than for public worship.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)