Hi,
I'm from Stuttgart, Germany, and German is my first language. So please excuse my imperfect English. I'll try my best.
I have a question about a song we sometimes sing at our church. The reason why I ask you about it: It's an English song and I'm not sure what the meaning of the lyrics is. I hope the native speakers here with a little knowledge of English grammar are able to help me easily. The song is called "Awakening", and I think it was written by Chris Tomlin (?). Presumably, many of you know that song. The chorus begins with the following words:
"For You and You alone
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing"
I don't understand whether he is talking to God or to his soul. And I don't want to sing that song at church if I don't understand the meaning.
To let you understand more precisely what I don't understand, I'll try to explain which possible meanings I am able to see:
(1) "for" is a preposition, "you" = God, "awake" is imperative, "soul" is direct object: The singer requests God to awake his soul. The problem: After that the singer also requests God to sing. This makes no sense to me.
(2) "for" is a preposition, "awake" is imperative, but there are commas missing between "awake" and "my soul". The singer is talking to his soul. He requests/commands it to awake and to sing. But if he's talking to his soul, "you" means his soul. So he'd do all this for his soul and his soul alone, but not for God? That makes no sense either.
(3) The singer is talking to God in the first line ("For You and You alone"), then suddenly turns toward his soul and asks it to awake and sing. Very complicated and inconsistent. How could anyone know that?
(4) The first "awake" is not imperative (but subjunctive?), it's an inversion (is that allowed in English?), and the last line is a separate sentence (imperative and missing comma). So it means: "for God (for whom?) and for God alone my soul might awake. (now toward the soul: ) Awake, my soul, and sing!". Even more complicated interpretation and perhaps forbidden by grammar (?).
(5) "for" is a conjunction (like in "for he's a jolly good fellow"). The first "awake" is indicative mood. "you" is subject and means God. The last line again is a separate sentence. So the singer tells God that he (God) awakes his (the singer's) soul. Then the singer turns toward his soul and asks it to awake (although God has already awoken it) and sing. Again, complicated and improbable.
Perhaps the true meaning is much simpler but I can't see it. Can you please explain it to me?
Thanks in advance!
I'm from Stuttgart, Germany, and German is my first language. So please excuse my imperfect English. I'll try my best.
I have a question about a song we sometimes sing at our church. The reason why I ask you about it: It's an English song and I'm not sure what the meaning of the lyrics is. I hope the native speakers here with a little knowledge of English grammar are able to help me easily. The song is called "Awakening", and I think it was written by Chris Tomlin (?). Presumably, many of you know that song. The chorus begins with the following words:
"For You and You alone
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing"
I don't understand whether he is talking to God or to his soul. And I don't want to sing that song at church if I don't understand the meaning.
To let you understand more precisely what I don't understand, I'll try to explain which possible meanings I am able to see:
(1) "for" is a preposition, "you" = God, "awake" is imperative, "soul" is direct object: The singer requests God to awake his soul. The problem: After that the singer also requests God to sing. This makes no sense to me.
(2) "for" is a preposition, "awake" is imperative, but there are commas missing between "awake" and "my soul". The singer is talking to his soul. He requests/commands it to awake and to sing. But if he's talking to his soul, "you" means his soul. So he'd do all this for his soul and his soul alone, but not for God? That makes no sense either.
(3) The singer is talking to God in the first line ("For You and You alone"), then suddenly turns toward his soul and asks it to awake and sing. Very complicated and inconsistent. How could anyone know that?
(4) The first "awake" is not imperative (but subjunctive?), it's an inversion (is that allowed in English?), and the last line is a separate sentence (imperative and missing comma). So it means: "for God (for whom?) and for God alone my soul might awake. (now toward the soul: ) Awake, my soul, and sing!". Even more complicated interpretation and perhaps forbidden by grammar (?).
(5) "for" is a conjunction (like in "for he's a jolly good fellow"). The first "awake" is indicative mood. "you" is subject and means God. The last line again is a separate sentence. So the singer tells God that he (God) awakes his (the singer's) soul. Then the singer turns toward his soul and asks it to awake (although God has already awoken it) and sing. Again, complicated and improbable.
Perhaps the true meaning is much simpler but I can't see it. Can you please explain it to me?
Thanks in advance!