And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land
The left need to embrace those last two verses in particular.
No one else is going to do it.
And yes - I know it says England - and I know it will challenge some with its allusions to faith - and I think more broadly on both - but this is the night of the Last Night of the Proms - and we have to embrace the paradox of the absurdity and yet sheer joy of that occasion and not be embarrassed about either - and indeed claim them as our own.
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That is a wonderful and poetic hymn that expresses so much awe and mystery.
As a Scot who is more and more realising what an Anglophile he is, he would say to an Englishman you should never apologise for the words of one of your radical sons. My dear wish is that the English would focus more and more on their radical heritage to make the link with what needs to happen today. For example Shelley’s ‘Mask of Anarchy’ has some pretty powerful lines:
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many – they are few.
Last time things were this bad The Jam released a very powerful LP Sound Affects that quoted Shelley’s lines. Their next LP The Gift had a funky toon that had these lines:
Let’s get this Trans-global Express moving
And watch our marvellous leaders quiver
They know that if it happens
Their lazy days are over
The day the working people join together
We’ll all rest much more easy
The responsibility you must bear
When it’s your own future in your hands.
May be a hard one to face up to
But at least you will OWN yourself.
Now that’s not so wonderful as Blake or Shelley but a lot of people are feeling that they don’t OWN themselves. It would be much better if we tried to push against our lords and masters now rather than have to put on chains later or have to run with the mob just after that.
Is there anyone out there now saying anything similar that people can tap into? Anyone? Out there? Hello?
Phil
Wise, and appreciated words
Just as it’s wise to remember just how radical Blake was in so many ways
Most who sing his words don’t realise that
Richard
You will have a fantastic job to do. What is surprising is how the right have so succesfully hi-jacked history that most people think that;
1) Welfare is a modern invention
2) “Free markets” are the natural state of affairs
3) It is only natural that there is gross inequality.
In fact, this is well wide of the mark. There was a compulsory toll to pay for the town’s poor back in the c13th & there was no suggestion of a ‘free market’. The King set the prices once a year-bread will be x a loaf, beer will be y a barrel,etc.
As for the gross inequality, look at the words of those leading the peasants’ revolt.
The Royal Festival Hall was recently home to an exhibition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain. At the start of the exhibition there was a display of text which described how the Korean war, in which Britain became embroiled in 1950, cast doubt on the wisdom of holding the Festival.
Gerald Barry, the festival’s director general, argued that it should as the war made the event more timely than ever. He went on to say, in a phrase that attracted my attention, “Fighting, I mean not necessarily with tanks and bazookas, but with every moral and spiritual weapon in our democratic armoury.”
We should have the courage to use every “moral and spiritual weapon” we have in our “democratic armoury” to fight for the soul of this country.
Wise words