Gracious Spirit, dwell with me
Gracious Spirit, dwell with me. Thomas Toke Lynch* (1818-1871).
From The Rivulet (1856). It had six stanzas, all of which are found in CP. Other books normally omit one or more of the stanzas, each of which begins with an adjective: ‘Gracious Spirit’…Truthful Spirit…Tender Spirit…Silent Spirit… Mighty Spirit… Holy Spirit’. The stanza usually omitted is the one beginning ‘Silent Spirit’, which pleads for quiet growth, like a blade of grass:
Silent Spirit, dwell with me,
I myself would quiet be,
Quiet as the growing blade,
Which through earth its way has made;
Silently, like morning light,
Putting mists and chills to flight.
The hymn is found in many 20th-century books, including HP and the...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Gracious Spirit, dwell with me."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 13 Jul. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/g/gracious-spirit,-dwell-with-me>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Gracious Spirit, dwell with me."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed July 13, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/g/gracious-spirit,-dwell-with-me.