1789–1854

Son of H. A. Hey, pas­tor at Lei­na, Wil­helm stu­died at the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Je­na and Göt­ting­en. In 1811, he be­came a lic­en­ti­ate in the­ol­o­gy, and af­ter var­ied work as a tu­tor, be­came in 1818 pastor at Töt­tel­stadt, near Gotha.

In 1827, he became court preach­er at Go­tha, where his preach­ing at­tract­ed large au­di­enc­es. In 1832, he was ap­point­ed su­per­in­ten­dent of Ich­ters­hau­sen.

Hey wrote his po­et­ry most­ly for child­ren. His works in­clude:

• Fabeln für Kin­der (Tales for Child­ren) (Ham­burg, Ger­ma­ny: 1833)

• Julian, pp. 520–21
• Wikipedia, accessed 15 Feb 2017

1. Alle Jahre wied­er, kommt das Chris­tus Kind
   • As Each Hap­py Chris­tmas
   • Blessed Feast of Christ­mas, The
   • Every Year That End­eth
2. Aus dem Him­mel ferne
3. Glöcklein klingt, Vög­lein singt
   • Bells Do Ring, Birds Do Sing
   • Bells They Ring, The Birds They Sing, The
   • Church Bells Ring
4. Weißt du, wie viel Stern­lein steh­en
   • Canst Thou Count the Stars That Twin­kle?
   • Canst Thou Sum Up Each Brill­iant Star?
   • Can You Count the Stars?
   • Can You Tell the Count­less Num­ber?
   • Do You Know How Ma­ny Stars?
   • How Ma­ny Stars Are Shin­ing?
5. Wenn auch vor dein­er Thür ein­mal
6. Wenn je du wied­er zagst
   • When E’er Again Thou Sink­est
7. Wenn Je­sus liebt Der kann all­ein
   • The Love of Christ Makes Ev­er Glad
   • They Who Love Je­sus Alone Can Be Gay
   • Whom Christ Holds Dear
   • Whom Jesus Loves