The livelong night we've toiled in vain

Author: John Keble

Keble, John, M.A., was born at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, on St. Mark's Day, 1792. His father was Vicar of Coln St. Aldwin's, about three miles distant, but lived at Fairford in a house of his own, where he educated entirely his two sons, John and Thomas, up to the time of their entrance at Oxford. In 1806 John Keble won a Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, and in 1810 a Double First Class, a distinction which up to that time had been gained by no one except Sir Robert Peel. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of Oriel, a very great honour, especially for a boy under 19 years of age; and in 1811 he won the University Prizes both for the English and Latin Essays. It is somewhat remarkable that amid this brilliantly successful career,… Go to person page >

This livelong night we've toiled in vain. J. Keble. [Obedience.] This poem is dated 1821. It appeared in the Christian Year, 1827, for the 5th Sunday after Trinity, and based upon a portion of the Gospel of the day, St. Luke v. 1, &c. In its original form it is unknown to modern hymnals, but a cento compiled from its 15 stanzas is given in the New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859, beginning with stanza i.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)