"There is a green hill far away" is a Christian hymn, originally written as a children's hymn but now usually sung for Passiontide. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander, and the most popular tune by William Horsley.[1]
The text was first published in Hymns for Little Children (1848), and the profound but simple text reflects well on this original purpose. The hymn would become popular after its publication in the 1868 appendix to the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, paired with the tune "Horsley".[2] The writer's husband considered it among the best of those written by his wife, with later assessments agreeing on the matter, one early 20th century noting the fine poetic skill of the poet and proclaiming that "she surpassed all other writers of sacred song in meeting a growing demand for children’s hymns".[3] French composer Charles Gounod, who composed a musical setting on the hymn's text in 1871,[4][5]reportedly considered that it was "the most perfect hymn in the English language", due in part to its striking simplicity.[6]
Despite the apparent simplicity, the text remains well known today due to its "clear presentation of the redemptive work of Christ". It appeared in later influential publications such as The English Hymnal (1906) and remains popular to this day, appearing in most compilations, scholar John Richard Watson noting that, since the time of its first publication, "it would be hard to find a major hymn book that has not included it".[2][7]
The text is in five common metre stanzas. It is based upon the words "Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried," of the Apostles' Creed,[8] and is an example of a metric paraphrase of the Creed where each article is extended to form a complete hymn.[3] It can be summarised as a "touching" description of Christ dying for the sins of men and giving his "redeeming blood" to "save us all".[9]
The first stanza refers to Golgotha (Calvary). According to legend, the author often went past a "green hill" when walking from her home to Derry, and she might have associated this with the distant – both physically and temporally – location of the Crucifixion. "Without" in the second line is usually taken to mean "outside", and some hymnals make this change explicitly. The final line refers to passages such as 1 John 2 and Isaiah 53:6.[3] The second stanza speaks of the mystery of the cross[6] and of atonement through the sacrifice of Christ, based on Isaiah 53:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:21.[3]
The third stanza talks of the forgiveness of sin (c.f. Hebrews 9:22, Ephesians 1:6–7), through which Man is made good (2 Cor 5:17), framing this as the gateway to Heaven, an imagery continued in the fourth stanza.[3]