Amazing Grace

The poem is a Christian hymn, or a religious lyric that expresses the emotions of the speaker. It is also didactic, featuring a specific lesson for readers: They should follow the model of the speaker by embracing the healing powers of God’s grace. In other words, the poem provides readers with spiritual guidance, promising the rewards of Christian faith. 

The authorial context indicates that the speaker is Newton, though a closed reading of the poem—examining only the text—produces an anonymous speaker. Within the hymn, the speaker doesn’t have a name or gender. Their only marker of identity is their relationship to belief: The speaker starts fraught, outside of belief, but once they find God, God saves the speaker and brings them “home” (Line 12).

Throughout the poem, the speaker uses a hyperbolic tone when referring to their live before and after God and God’s grace, eschewing nuance. God is a categorically life-changing influence, and the speaker lavishes God with praise. At the same time, they’re intentionally dramatic about their pre-faith life: Without God, their life was unequivocally horrible.

The hyperbole starts when the speaker states, “Amazing grace (how sweet the sound) / that saved a wretch like me!” (Lines 1-2).