who were the critics?
Bruce Hindmarsh, Jonathan Aitken, William Phipps to name a few.
Amazing Grace
Bruce Hindmarsh in "Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America" considers "Amazing Grace" an excellent example of Newton's testimonial style afforded by the use of this perspective. Several of Newton's hymns were recognised as great work ("Amazing Grace" was not among them), while others seem to have been included to fill in when Cowper was unable to write. Jonathan Aitken calls Newton, specifically referring to "Amazing Grace", an "unashamedly middlebrow lyricist writing for a lowbrow congregation", noting that only twenty-one of the nearly 150 words used in all six verses have more than one syllable.

William Phipps in the "Anglican Theological Review" and author James Basker have interpreted the first stanza of "Amazing Grace" as evidence of Newton's realisation that his participation in the slave trade was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider common understanding of Newton's motivations.
when was amazing grace my chains are gone written It was written in 1772. who wrote amazing grace? John Newton. did he also compose it? UNANSWERABLE was he a musician by profession? No, he was an English Anglican clergyman. He also He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy for a period after forced recruitment. what did critics have to say about it? It was thought as an excellent example of Newton's testimonial style afforded by the use of this perspective.
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Amazing Grace [SEP] Critical analysis
The general impact of "Olney Hymns" was immediate and it became a widely popular tool for evangelicals in Britain for many years. Scholars appreciated Cowper's poetry somewhat more than Newton's plaintive and plain language, expressing his forceful personality. The most prevalent themes in the verses written by Newton in "Olney Hymns" are faith in salvation, wonder at God's grace, his love for Jesus, and his cheerful exclamations of the joy he found in his faith. As a reflection of Newton's connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in first person, admitting his own experience with sin. Bruce Hindmarsh in "Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America" considers "Amazing Grace" an excellent example of Newton's testimonial style afforded by the use of this perspective.