This poet reached out to children and others who wanted to
learn, one can surmise from looking at his life inside and outside the church. Was
he also reaching out with his teaching muscle when he wrote “’Tis Midnight, and
On Olive’s Brow” and saw it published in 1822? What was he feeling and trying
to say, as he pondered a lonely, poignant episode in the Messiah’s life during
a night in Gethsemane (see picture)? William Bingham Tappan fused his
well-honed prose and his faith, and probably some of his own emotional energy,
into this 19th Century hymn.
He wrote 10 volumes of poetry during his lifetime over a
30-year period, including one that was published posthumously, 11 years
following his death, all while maintaining a career in teaching. He didn’t
start out as a poet, but rather as a clockmaker. Perhaps it was the experience
dealing with the insides of timepieces that spawned his introspection and
development as a poet. We could also presume that his experience with inanimate
objects ultimately lost its appeal, because he eventually turned to teaching –
in a way examining and shaping the insides of animate objects, namely Sunday
school students. He pursued instruction in the secular schoolroom in
Philadelphia, before turning later and throughout most of the remainder of his
life to Sunday school. By 1822, when he published his poem ‘Tis Midnight…’ with
others in his second volume of poetry, he had become the superintendent of the
American Sunday School Union (later named the “American Missionary Fellowship”,
and later “InFaith”). This must have been fulfilling for him, a way to mold
minds, including those of children. He was a 28-year old
poet/educator/Christian believer at this point in his life, who evidently was
touched, maybe during a sleepless night of his own, by his Lord’s night of torment
in Gethsemane.
What could people have learned, and can still learn, from
Tappan’s poem? Surely Tappan was telling them ‘He was afraid, and felt lonely,
but God sent angels to comfort Him’. That message would have spoken to many
undoubtedly, those who were in a dark place and felt overwhelmed with life. Did
Bill Tappan sense some of his students were in trouble? His message – see the
God who gave himself for you, and draw close. If you run from the anguish He
felt, you’ll also miss the power of angels sent from His father. Great message
for all of us kids, huh?
The following sites contain scant biographical information
on the composer:
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