Miss Anna L. Waring
Hymn writer
Page loading...
Summary
Anna Letitia Waring (or Anna Laetitia Waring) was a Welsh poet and hymn-writer. She was born at Plas-y-Felin, Neath, the daughter of Elijah Waring (d. 1857). Her family were Quakers, but she became an Anglican and was baptised into the Church of England in 1842, at Winchester. Literary interests were fostered by members of her family as her uncle Samuel Miller Waring (also an Anglican) and her father Elijah both published works of literature.
Biography
Waring was born in 1820 at Neath in Glamorganshire, South Wales, where it seems she spent her whole life. It has been said of her "Few authors are so sensitive or shy of publicity as Miss Waring. She has written her heart into her hymns, but particulars of her life and education are concealed from us". She was the daughter of Elijah Waring and niece of Samuel Miller Waring. Her hymns were first introduced into America by a minister named F.D. Huntingdon in 1863.
Though her early upbringing was among the Quakers, she was impressed by the sacraments of the Anglican Church, and identified herself with that body in 1842. She wrote hymns in her teens and completed 39 of them by 1863. In order to read the Old Testament in the original, she learned Hebrew. She had a gentle but merry spirit and did helpful work for the "Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society". Her ninety years of life were a blessing to all who knew her or read her poems and hymns.
Works by Miss Anna L. Waring
As a young girl, Anna Waring took it upon herself to learn biblical Hebrew in order to delve deeper into Old Testament poetry. She later channeled her talent for languages and words into her own creative work. With this little book, originally containing nineteen hymns (Waring added more to subsequent editions), she offers up her own songs of worship, following in the footsteps of the Old Testament writers she admired. Among her hymns, “Father, I know that all my life,” “Go not far from me, O my Strength,” and “My heart is resting, O my God” are the most widely known.
Popularity is calculated by comparing this book's number of views to our most commonly read book. Popularity is calculated by comparing this book's number of editions to the book with the largest number of editions.