Amazing Grace

Newton wrote his sermons and hymns with a specific audience in mind. He preached in Olney, and his congregation was mostly people without much money or education. Thus, he strove to keep his message simple. The meter of “Amazing Grace” reinforces Newton’s goal. The meter is known as “common meter,” with Lines 1 and 3 containing eight syllables, and Lines 2 and 4 containing six syllables. 

The unpretentious, predictable meter made the hymn suitable for “the fasola system” of setting to music that became popular in the United States during the 1800s. As the name indicates, the method reduced singing to four basic notes, with an eight-syllable scale proceeding: Fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa. 

The form of the hymn matches the simple meter. There are six stanzas, and each stanza contains four lines, making each stanza a quatrain. As with the meter, the form is predictable and unshowy. The tidy form reflects the clean message: The speaker finds God, and they immediately experience salvation—a plot that fits the expectations and tropes of the conversion narrative on which Newton is relying.