Concord Hymn - History

History

In October 1834 Emerson went live with his step-grandfather Ezra Ripley in Concord, at what was later named The Old Manse—less than a hundred paces from the spot where the battle took place. In 1835 he purchased a home on the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike and quickly became one of Concord's leading citizens. That same year he was asked to give a public lecture commemorating the town's 200th anniversary.

The "Concord Hymn" was written at the request of the Battle Monument Committee. At Concord's Independence Day celebration on July 4, 1837 it was first read, then sung as a hymn by a local choir using the then-familiar tune "Old Hundredth".

The poem elevates the battle above a simple event, setting Concord as the spiritual center of the American nation, and exalting a general spirit of revolution and freedom— a spirit Emerson hoped would outlive those who fought in the battle. One source of the hymn's power may be Emerson's personal ties to the subject: his grandfather William Emerson, Sr., witnessed the battle at the North Bridge while living at the Old Manse.

Emerson's poem was widely published in newspaper accounts of the dedication; in contrast there is no record of Congressman Samuel Hoar's speech that day. In particular, Emerson's line "the shot heard 'round the world" is a fixture in the lore of the American Revolution, and the opening stanza is inscribed beneath Daniel Chester French Minute Man statue dedicated (along with a replica of the Old North Bridge) at the 1875 commemoration of the original battle. "Concord Hymn" established Emerson as a poet; he was previously known as a lecturer and essayist. Emerson biographer Robert Richardson notes they have since become the most famous lines he ever wrote. Concord's centennial celebration of Emerson's birth in 1903 ended with a singing of the hymn.