Keble was the son of the vi­car of Colne. Af­ter a brill­iant ca­reer at Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty, he took Ho­ly Ord­ers and be­came Cur­ate at East Leach and Bur­thorpe. In 1827, he pub­lished The Christ­ian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sun­days and Ho­ly Days Through­out the Year, which was an in­stant suc­cess. In 1831, Ke­ble be­came a pro­fess­or of po­e­try at Ox­ford. In 1833, he laid the found­a­tion of the Ox­ford Move­ment by de­liv­er­ing his fa­mous As­size Ser­mon. In 1835, he ac­cept­ed the vi­car­age at Hurs­ley, where he stayed the rest of his life.

Keble was a mod­est man, and prob­ab­ly thought less of his own work than did the least of his ad­mir­ers. He once ac­com­pa­nied the vi­car of a par­ish in south­ern En­gland on his vis­it to the Sun­day School. The su­per­in­tend­ent asked Ke­ble to say a few words to the child­ren, who were al­rea­dy ac­quaint­ed with his hymns, so that they might more ea­si­ly re­mem­ber them. Ke­ble de­murred, but when the su­per­in­tend­ent per­sist­ed, said May they sing some­thing? When they fin­ished, his face was beam­ing as he said:

My dear child­ren, you sang most beau­ti­ful­ly in tune; may your whole lives be equal­ly in tune, and then you will sing with the an­gels in hea­ven.

• Julian, p. 610
• Robinson, p. 13

1. Ave Ma­ria! Bless­èd Maid!
2. Bethlehem, Above All Ci­ties Blest
3. Blest Are the Pure in Heart
4. Christ Be­fore Thy Door Is Wait­ing
5. Creator Savior, Strength­en­ing Guide
6. Days of Hope and Pray­er Are Past, The
7. Earth Is All the Lord’s, with All, The
8. Father, What Trea­sures of Sweet Thought
9. From Deeps So Wild and Drear
10. God Is Not in the Earth­quake, but Be­hold
11. God Our Hope and Strength Abid­ing
12. God, the Lord, a King Re­main­eth
13. Gracious Sav­ior, Gen­tle Shep­herd
14. Hail, Gladdening Light
15. How Plea­sant, Lord of Hosts, How Dear
16. How the New­born Saints, As­sem­bling
17. In Troub­lous Days of An­guish and Re­buke
18. Lessons Sweet of Spring Re­turning
19. Live-Long Night We’ve Toiled in Vain, The
20. Living Stream, as Crys­tal Clear, A
21. Lo, from the East­ern Hills the Lord
22. Lord, Be My Judge, for I Have Trod
23. Lord, in Thy Name Thy Serv­ants Plead
24. Lord, Lift My Heart to Thee at Morn
25. Lord of Life, Pro­phe­tic Spir­it
26. Lord, Thy Heart in Love Hath Yearned
27. Lord, Thou Hast Searched Me Out and Known
28. Mercies of the Lord My God, The
29. Midday Sun with Fierc­est Glare, The
30. My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Me?
31. My Sav­ior, Can It Ev­er Be?
32. My Shep­herd Is the Liv­ing God
33. My Shep­herd Is the Lord, I Know
34. New Ev­ery Morn­ing Is the Love
35. O Fa­ther of Long Suf­fer­ing Grace
36. O God of Mercy, God of Might
37. O Lord My God, Do Thy Ho­ly Will
38. O Love Un­seen, We Know Thee Nigh
39. O Say Not, Dream Not
40. O Shame on Thee, List­less Heart
41. O Timely Hap­py, Time­ly Wise
42. O Who Shall Dare in This Frail Scene?
43. Once in His Name Who Made Thee
44. Our God in Glo­ry Sits on High
45. Praise the Lord, for He Is Love
46. Praise Ye the Lord from Hea­ven
47. Red o’er the For­est Peers the Set­ting Sun
48. Seed of Ja­cob, One and All, The
49. Shadow of the Al­mighty’s Cloud, The
50. Silent Joy That Sinks So Deep, The
51. Sing the Song Un­heard Be­fore
52. Slowly the Gleam­ing Stars Re­tire
53. Sound High Je­ho­vah’s Name
54. Spirit of Christ, Thine Ear­nest Give
55. Spirit of Light and Truth, to Thee
56. Spirit of Might and Sweet­ness, Too
57. Sun of My Soul
58. Sweet Nurs­lings of the Ver­nal Skies
59. Then, Faint­ing Soul, Arise and Sing
60. There Is a Book That All May Read
61. Thou Fram­er of the Light and Dark
62. Twilight Hour Is Sweet at Morn, The
63. Voice That Breathed o’er Eden, The
64. When Brothers Part for Manhood’s Race
65. When Christ to Vill­age Comes or Town
66. When God of Old Came Down from Heav’n
67. Who for the Like of Me Will Care?
68. Who Is God’s Chos­en Priest?
69. Why Doth My Sav­ior Weep?
70. Why Should We Faint and Fear to Live Alone?
71. Wish Not, Dear Friends, My Pain Away
72. Word Su­preme, Be­fore Cre­a­tion