While Shepherds Watched is an English language Christmas Carol. The words were written by Nahum Tate sometime between 1700 and 1702,  and first appeared in Tate and Brady’s Psalter in 1702. Tate was the Poet Laureate in the reign of Queen Anne, and some sources claim that Nicholas Brady was co-author of the poem. The melody for While Shepherds Watched appears to have been written by the German-born composer George Friedrich Handel, possibly taken from his opera Siroe.


While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
 All seated on the ground,
 The angel of the Lord came down,
 And glory shone around,
 And glory shone around.

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