The American Spectator : Blake's 'Jerusalem' -- Forget It!

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Blake's 'Jerusalem' -- Forget It!

By Hal G.P. Colebatch on 5.3.11 @ 6:07AM

What explains the popularity of this ghastly hymn, its words written by a 18th-century free-lance kook and sung at royal weddings?

The English professor, London Times columnist, and general cultural guru Mary Beard stated shortly after 9/11 that, once "the shock had faded," many people thought "the United States had it coming," and that "world bullies, even if their heart is in the right place, will in the end pay the price."

In a November 2007 interview, she stated that the hostility which these comments provoked had still not subsided (I wonder why?), although she believed it had become a standard viewpoint that terrorism was associated with American foreign policy. Anyway, now she is upset.

She has just asked in the Times Literary Supplement why, at the Royal Wedding: "How come the great and the good of this country don't appear to know the words of 'Jerusalem' without looking at their hymn sheets, and even then don't seem to be quite certain of how the words fit the tune?"

She asked other questions, equally if not more stupid, but this one, I think is, given "Jerusalem's" popularity, and her own opinions on international events, worth commenting on.

"Jerusalem," which is in any case arguably not a hymn at all, and not appropriate for a religious (or, I hope to show, any other event) setting, was written by the 18th-century free-lance kook William Blake, and later adopted as the semi official-hymn of the Labour Party, whose members still sing it at Party gatherings, though it is doubtful if even they understand it. It bears, as George Bernard Shaw said of its rival the Internationale, "all the panache of the funeral march of a fried eel." Blake himself had a weird idiosyncratic set of religious beliefs which could be called Christian only by stretching the meaning of the word to its limits.

"Jerusalem" goes as follows:

And did those [i.e. Christ's] feet in ancient times
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the Holy Lamb of God
In England's pleasant pastures seen?

The answer is, of course, to anyone with even an elementary knowledge of history and archeology, is "No." The fact that it can be set to a catchy and attractive tune does not prevent it from being rubbish. There is no evidence that Christ ever visited England, and though it is just possible in the sense of not being entirely impossible or conclusively disproved (see my article on the Glastonbury Thorn, TAS, Dec. 20, 2010), it is extremely unlikely. "Jerusalem" continues:

And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here.
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Well, we've already answered that. Scholars have debated over what Blake meant (assuming that he had any clear idea himself) by that line about "dark Satanic mills." While it has long been taken for granted by many that Blake was referring, literally, to the mills of the industrial revolution, relatively few if these had come on stream in 1808, when "Jerusalem" was written, while there seems to be a case that he was actually referring to the hated (by him) Universities of the Enlightenment, including that at which Mary Beard is employed.

Sir Isaac Newton, Voltaire, and a mythical figure called Urizon ("You reason," geddit?) Blake saw as particular enemies of humanity, spreading the poison of enlightenment and reason.

Anyway, Britain's problem is not now the spread of dark Satanic mills (an abandoned industrial site, well overgrown, can look strangely beautiful), but keeping what mills and other factories it still has open, and, as far as universities go, getting the students to take on hard subjects like chemistry or engineering.

The poem goes on into the heights of paranoid grandiosity. The late Osama bin Laden, now removed to warmer climes, would particularly have liked that piece about "chariots of fire," for which he could surely have found a use.

Bring me by bow of burning gold,
Bring me my arrows of desire;
Bring me my spear, Oh clouds, unfold,
Bring me my chariot of fire …

Yes, and head it for Ground Zero, maybe. This is the sort of verse one can imagine Charlie Manson concocting if he was a better hand at rhyme, and indeed Blake's poetry was enormously popular in the drug-addled '60s that also tried to make a hero out of Manson..

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About the Author

Hal G.P. Colebatch's "Immram," Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (54) | Leave a comment

Midnight| 5.3.11 @ 6:30AM

Lame.

Alan Brooks| 5.3.11 @ 9:58AM

Mary Beard was correct but so what? national interest trumps everything, you know as well as anyone a community of nations does not exist yet..
we don't even have a genuine civilization-- it's controlled barbarism.

Ground Control| 5.3.11 @ 11:16AM

Mary Beard had what right? That the USA "had it coming?" Bravo Sierra. You are a sick and demented thing. Get help.

As for "controlled barbarism," I have seen your posts here before and your political affinities and fetishes are quite clear. If you want to blame someone for "controlled barbarism," look in a mirror. Goon.

Tomas| 5.3.11 @ 6:30PM

Mr. Colebatch has obviously never heard of symbolism. His article assumes "Jerusalem" to be an historical document.

"Jerusalem's" lyrics are incredibly poetic... the melody both grand and intimate (how many times have you heard a piece incorporate both?).

I particularly like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's version from their album "Brain Salad Surgery."

Bravo, "Jerusalem." Your place in musical and cultural history will survive long after Colebatch is dead and buried.

(Colebatch who?)

Quartermaster| 5.3.11 @ 7:17PM

And, it so 19th century British. I don't like the hymn, but Victorian Brits loved it.

Herb| 5.3.11 @ 6:54AM

The aggrieved author has Monty Python to blame for the popularity of "Jerusalem". The Mattress Sketch immortalized that anthem for all time.

However, I recall that following the British victory in Falklands in 1982, the hymn resounded over BBC and was widely sung by Her Majesty's fighting forces. And it remains popular to this day.

He'll just have to go on being aggrieved, I suppose.

Stuart Koehl| 5.3.11 @ 6:56AM

Cranky this morning, Hal.

Evanston2| 5.5.11 @ 2:39PM

Stuart, agreed. I'm a Bible-thumper but not really a hymn or Christian music dude...nonetheless find this article somewhat puzzling. The lyrics are OK and tune has some nice pace changes. Hal must've wanted Tony The Tiger and got stuck with Cheerios.

Martin Hutchinson| 5.3.11 @ 7:22AM

At last, someone with a sensible view of "Jerusalem". It's always a complete pinko anti-climax in the Last Night of the Proms, after the musically wonderful and emotionally stirring "Land of Hope and Glory" and "Rule Britannia" both of which have words that should be committed to memory by the feeble modern British political class.

I hadn't heard the theory that Blake meant Oxbridge, though. That's a very nice anti-Blake line.

Quartermaster| 5.3.11 @ 7:18PM

Sadly, Britannia hasn't ruled the waves in a very long time.

Ken Larson| 5.3.11 @ 7:24AM

Although Blake wrote the words, Hubert Parry composed the setting and there's no better "big cathedral" composer in my mind. And my take on wedding guests knowing the words is that many did and were singing in a robust fashion.

The "new" Jerusalem is clearly a Biblical reference and fits nicely with a Romantic era's poet's longing. There are settings of Blake's poem "The Lamb" which are also quite good. And Revelations' "new Heaven and new Earth" are found in the library of Anglican music.

I don't know Mr. Colebatch's work but am saddened that he doesn't appreciate what was a wonderful display of church music last Friday in Westminster Abbey. And I think his dilemma goes beyond being cranky.

SugartownSuper| 5.3.11 @ 8:10AM

Having sung this wonderfully lyrical song [OK, it is NOT a "hymn"] in my American middle school 40 years ago, I find myself still moved by it. Today we say "What would Jesus do?" Blake was saying the same thing in his own way in the symbology of his own time and his own often lurid imagery - Can we not seek to build a more Christ-like life in this world? We have seen what happens when visionaries carry this notion into practice, but that should not mean that we as individuals should not try to keep the example of the risen Christ in our lives.

Ken Larson| 5.3.11 @ 8:25AM

"Can we not seek to build a more Christ-like life in this world?"

I concur but would not use "lurid" to characterize the imagery -- and in the Anglican tradition I think the word that applies to this piece of church music is Anthem.

Le Cracquere| 5.3.11 @ 8:36AM

The sort of people who pursue heterodox "New Jerusalems" of the pinko variety are generally the last people to be found singing or enjoying this particularly beautiful and haunting song.

(And try getting raised by Pentecostals--you'll feel a stab of gratitude in the presence of ANY pre-1970 hymn that can retain currency and popularity. Never even heard "Jerusalem" till I was in my 30s.)

Richard Baker| 5.3.11 @ 8:58AM

As to lyrics, can there be any more curious than those of "MacArthur Park" by Jimmy Webb? As an example: "Someone left the cake out in the rain/I don't think that I can take it/'Cause it took so long to bake it/And I'll never have that recipe again." Wow, Maaan! Someone was smoking a BIG doobie when this was written. Maybe that was Blake's problem, as well.

cuban pete| 5.3.11 @ 9:26AM

Dave Barry argued "MacArthur Park' was the worst song ever written."Sung" by Richard Harris.

Tomas| 5.3.11 @ 6:33PM

Dave Barry was onto something....

Occam's Tool| 5.4.11 @ 1:57AM

No. Sorry, Cuban Pete. The worst song ever written was "The Pina Colada Song." I admit the singer had an OK voice, but give me a break!

Cuffs| 5.3.11 @ 9:27AM

Gee, folks, lighten up!
Now we need an interpretation
of "Rock of Ages". Go to it
Hal.

Vern Crisler| 5.3.11 @ 9:50AM

Come on Hal! This is a beautiful song. I first heard it in high school when Emerson, Lake, & Palmer did a version of it, then heard it later in Chariots of Fire. The song is just hypothetical enough not to be offensive to those who respect the Bible, history, and archaeology. (I just listened to Charlotte Church's beautiful rendition of it last night.) And it's stately music is a far cry from the "Drop kick me Jesus through the goal post of life" songs that are so popular today among Christians.

Bob K.| 5.3.11 @ 9:52AM

It is poetry from a great poet you poor sad sack!

"The princes robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent."

From his "Auguries of Innocence."

cuban pete| 5.3.11 @ 10:32AM

"The Tyger" from Songs of Experience is allegedly the most anthologized poem of all time.

Martin Owens| 5.3.11 @ 10:23AM

It's Pomp And Circumstance and Solemn Celebration of Glories Past.

So, in the first place, complain and see what it gets you. In the second, be glad there's anything at all left of what Britain used to be....

Bill| 5.3.11 @ 10:25AM

I'm so glad that someone else also thinks that William Blake was a kook. I remember studying his poetry at some length in my English Lit. studies at NYU in the 1960s (I was an English Lit. major), and wondering why people thought it was so great. I mean, come on, "Little lamb, who made thee?" "Tiger, tiger, burning bright/In the forests of the night?" Give me a break.

Bill| 5.3.11 @ 10:59AM

I also don't think his art is all that great, either.

Tomas| 5.3.11 @ 6:38PM

Most poets can be categorized as kooks.

"Tiger, tiger...." was intended for children. I suppose "Horton Hears a Who" is not mature enough for you.

Bill| 5.4.11 @ 9:00AM

I wasn't talking about maturity, I was talking about good and bad poetry.

Josh2005| 5.3.11 @ 10:26AM

Nothing William Blake ever wrote should be considered a "hymn." Blake had an extremely cynical view of religion and traditional morality, arguing that it caused only repression and denial of "true self." The Bible instructs Christians to deny our carnal lusts and desires, instead doing our best to live holy and righteous lives in honor to God. However, Blake saw this as a form of tyranny and oppression. He believed that people should never try to supress their natural desires, because it would allegedly discourage earthly happiness. I mean, have you ever read "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"? He provides a positive depiction of Hell as open and liberated, as opposed to the stodgy, repression of Heaven.

Essentially, these are the beliefs of the Church of Satan. Go ahead and look it up.

Petronius| 5.3.11 @ 10:33AM

Et tu
Me Too
That number is so vacuous and downright leaden as to be unfit for any wedding come of a true love match. The newlyweds should have skipped back down the aisle to St. Kilda played jointly by Brian MacNeil, Aly Bain, Dave Swarbrick, and Eliza Carthy. Anyone who says that folk music is inappropriate to such an occasion can stuff it. It is a plain but beautiful piece which evokes new beginning and long lives yet to be filled.

FTM| 5.3.11 @ 10:50AM

OK, so this means what to who?

The Seals greased BinLaden and the Federal Government chose to victimize the innocent in Missouri in order to protect the willfully stupid in Illinois.

Must be a slow news day.

VAcogito| 5.3.11 @ 11:34AM

I am an American fan of this "hymn" and understand the religious references to be symbolic of the way the British feel about their Country. Also, it has a great tune. Hating this song is like disliking the Beatles (which I do--except for a few songs they all sound the same and no lyrics). You can do it but it is silly to discuss it.

Jerry| 5.3.11 @ 11:36AM

I long ago argued, with regard to rock music, that it doesn't matter what the words say, it only matters what they sound like. Same with "Jerusalem." The music is haunting and beautiful and the lyrics, while head-scratching, make the whole thing a moving experience. I always look forward to hearing it.

AsYourKing| 5.3.11 @ 12:12PM

What was the point of this nasty bit of bitter invective (which invective, by the way, showed great ignorance of the Old Testament and Revelation imagery Blake employed) masquerading as thoughtful commentary? It was not enough to analyze Blake's verse, the author seemed compelled to analyze poor dead Blake -- there was supposedly some important point to the prissy nastiness of calling him a kook and saying his verse "goes to heights of paranoid grandiosity?"

Blake was not espousing what the author has accused him of, nor was he stupidly applying myth and a brittle literalism to effect a quasi-christian super-nationalistic expression, as the author seems to imply.

Familiarity with holy scripture (without the presumption of pharasaical legalism), is a prerequisite to understanding and appreciating the hymn "Jerusalem." Indeed, does the author know what Jerusalem is, scripturally? It is more than the historic city - it is all that city represents, all it was used to achieve, all it will be. It exists physically and spiritually, and indeed, in the timeless realm we all will face, if we are in Christ, it surrounds us, and even has a place in our hearts. In a certain sense, because we are Christ's, because we honor the Father by honoring Christ, and because we have received the Spirit of Adoption (whereby we cry "Abba!"), indeed Jersualem is already builded about us where we are, though our senses fail to perceive.

And, even if we discount these basic theological points, what would be wrong with vigorous debate within a framework of kindness and love? Don't dare throw about judgements of what is Christian or not, if you do not convey the love of Christ. A writer is not a judge, a minister of government, who has authority of vengeance according to holy scripture to punish evil and reward good. A writer is an individual, who, by those same scriptures is proscribed from vengeance ("vengeance is mine, saith the Lord"), and is exhorted instead to show true charity (the love of Christ).

The vituperative and vicious rhetoric used by this author toward Blake and his hymn is not only unnecessary, but is of a nature more often seen from our friends on the ideological Left.

All this unwarranted and destructive rhetorical thrashing, and to what end? Yes, I do understand that satire, sarcasm, parody, used with wit to edify with humor and keen insights, or, say, to pop the balloons of pomposity and arrogance, are welcome and needed. But this article does not measure up to that standard, nor, I suspect, to the standards of the author (based on his other articles).

I am saddened.

Fred| 5.4.11 @ 11:14AM

C'mon. Blake was a kook. And most of his ideas are very much warmed-over Rousseau. I think an argument can be made that Rousseau has been the most destructive force in modern Western history (his ideas having resulted in more destruction even than Marx's since Marx would not have been possible without them and they have not been as discredited among the elites as Marx's have). Having said that, though, Blake's imagery is clever, his poems are often quite beautiful read aloud, and his obscurity, while it can seem silly, often creates a sense of profundity about what are essentially silly ideas.

Stefan Stackhouse| 5.3.11 @ 12:31PM

First, a little more background.

The old legend is that Jesus and Joseph of Aramethea were related, and when Jesus was an adolescent Joseph took him along on a business trip to England. I guess it is not impossible that the two were related, and there was far more extensive commerce across the Roman Empire than some people realize. Also, we actually know virtually nothing about Jesus's life until he begins his ministry. Thus, this is not absolutely impossible. But it does seem extremely far fetched.

"Jerusalem" is traditionally sung by fans before the start of every football (soccer) game of England's national team. As "God Save the Queen" is actually the national anthem of the United Kingdom, there has been some discussion (and much controversy) about adopting "Jerusalem" as the national anthem of England.

Now for my two cents worth:

Blake was an odd bird, there is no denying that. He wrote a lot of strange texts, and this one ranks among the strangest.

There has always been an milennarian faction on the fringes of Christian thought - the idea that we will eventually have heaven on earth, either by Divine initiative, or by our own. The latter view tends to blend into various socialisms. "Jerusalem" could be seen as definitely fitting within this school of thought, which is why it can seem equally at home at Anglican church services and at Labour meetings.

Such utopian sentiments would seem to be anathema to any proper conservative, I would think. Building heaven on earth is a project that we would all view very negatively, and suspect that the end result would be more likely to be yet more "dark satanic mill" writ large. Heaven, for those of us who are believers, we would tend to see as not being of this world, and in any case is entirely God's project. Keeping idealistic kooks from creating hell on earth in the misguided attempt to build a New Jerusalem is quite a big enough project to keep us busy.

Margie| 5.3.11 @ 5:53PM

But sir, don't you know that Jesus says He will create a New Heaven, and a New Earth in which Righteousness will dwell?

The Bible does say that Christ is going to return and reign for a thousand years upon this New Earth.

Personally, I can't wait!

Rev.20:4 & 6. & 21:1.

Mick Lee| 5.3.11 @ 1:14PM

I admit I am surprised by the obtuseness of the author toward this hymn, anthem or just plain song as you would have it. I would be among the first to take a poop on Blake’s works; but once crafted into the present hymn it becomes something beyond Blake’s intentions. Perhaps a better way of saying it is: it is not what Blake meant but what his fellow Englishmen heard that matters. It answer to “And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England’s mountains green [?]” is of course He did. Christ came upon all humanity although He most probably never left His corner of the Mideast. Perhaps to the individual Englishman, the most astonishing good news is that Christ speaks to him right there in limey land. Christ came for him. He is near to him even there on the Englishman’s beloved but dark England on the far corner of the world.

Others have already pointed out the Biblical and spiritual references behind the meaning of the hymns verses. I would only add that “Bring me by bow of burning gold…arrows…spear” refers to the spiritual armor St. Paul exhorts us to wear for spiritual warfare. “Chariot of fire” is a reference to the chariot which took Elijah into heaven.

“Jerusalem” is also not literal. It is not something we are likely to see in this life. Instead it is the final state of grace which we will share with our Lord. It refers both to the sanctification we are to pursue in this life and the holy city of God which will come at the end of days. “Jerusalem” will be imminent—no longer distant—even for those a long way from the earthly Jerusalem. It will even be in England.

Darcy| 5.3.11 @ 1:28PM

Wow, this is really tone-deaf. Blake was batty, but that's part of the fun. He had an ear for poetry, which our author, apparently, does not. Also "chariots of fire" refers to Elijah. Nothing sinister there.

Kent Lyon| 5.3.11 @ 2:02PM

Mr. Colebatch seems strangely ignorant regarding what Blake was protesting against, namely a mechanical world view (single vision and Newton's sleep). In his time he had seen the rise of atheism as the religion of the Enlightenment (espoused by Voltaire, possibly Hume, and many others--and enshrined in the French Revolution) which has now become the standard ethos of the literati and the political and scientific elite.

Blake stood athwart the tsunami toward the Newtonian Mechanical World View and yelled "Stop!" ( to paraphrase). While that Mechanical World View has led to rather dramatic advances, it has Progressively diminished the status of humans, to the point that Euthanasia can be inculcated in the young minds of Britain with the approbation of the political class. In the last Century, the political elites could avidly espouse Eugenics, and impose forced sterilization on those they deemed "unfit" as if they alone were the arbiters of the improvement of the species. That overt approach had to be abandoned when the Hitler death camps were liberated and the logical conclusion of Eugenics and the full impact of the "Final Solution" became known (the overt approach was replaced with a less overt approach--including the dissemination of information on assisted suicide, along with a much diminished view of humans as a poor excuse of a species that is a little too clever for the good of the planet, that deserves culling and little else, even if the culling has to be done by convincing humans to off themselves, with a little help from a friend).

Because the Left with no understanding embraced Blake for a time is no reason to misunderstand his central idea. Indeed, the Western World suffers severely from that mechanical world view, that single vision, that twilight Newtonian Sleep, despite the fact that science has obviated it. Quantum theory with it's intransigent non-locality and the strange necessity for consciousness that it contains, is completely and irrevocably incompatible with Newtonian mechanics, and the General Relativity that supplanted it, despite the vain attempts by leading physicists for well nigh a century to develop that Final Theory, their "Theory of Everything." Leading physicists, such as Stephen Hawking, continue to denigrate the non-locality and deny the consciousness implications of Quantum Theory, preferring the atheistic mechanical causal view that they cannot formalize (Hawking prematurely announces, in his new book, "The Grand Design" that the question has been laid to rest, but his claim of the demise of Blake's multiple visions, e.g., consciousness, is greatly exagerated; he needs P-branes, 11 dimensions, and ties himself up in the whole of knot theory, which is yet incomplete, to arrive at his premature claim of a physicists' "Mission Accomplished"--in fact, physicists don't know what comprises 96% of the Universe--it's something other than baryonic matter or electromagnetic energy--and why the expansion of the Universe is accelerating following 5 billion years of slowing).

The Quantum requirement of a ubiquitous and continuous consciousness for the existence of the Universe, a conscioiusness that humans share and incarnate, lends a vastly greater significance to human existence than anything those who espouse a single vision will deign to acknowledge. That single vision underlies the totalitarian ideologies that infect the modern world, from Marxism to Progressive-ism and Pragmatism, from Marx to Dewey to Rorty and Rawls, pushed by such as Cass Sunstein, Peter Singer, and most of the faculty of major law schools, elite universities, and the judiciary, that provide the excuse for political power abuse across the globe, denying and denigrating human life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We live in a dark age of totalitarian ideologies, from the Newtonian-Mechanical, including the neo-fascism that goes by the rubric of public-private partnership, to the absolutist religious (radical Islam). Blake's plural vision is the antidote to those poisons.

I gather that Mr. Colebatch recoils from the ideologies and actions of those who most embrace the mechanical world view and the implications that has for our humble species. He should reconsider his perspective on Blake, who had a vision that would defy the ultimate victory of those who would deny the Human. The New Jerusalem, that "Shining City on a Hill", that vision that calls us toward human freedom and dignity and virtue, not only applies to England, but the entirety of the Planet. In treading on the Mount of Olives, that singular Human tread upon the hills and fields of England, and of the whole world.

Fallgold| 5.3.11 @ 2:31PM

The hymn was beautiful, and very moving in the beautiful setting of the Abby. Quit complaining.

C S Lewis| 5.3.11 @ 3:10PM

Blake knew more about the history of The True Church then this writer. The Apostles were told to feed the sheep - preach the True Gospel, and they paid with their lives for this message. And those Christians that they converted fled to other lands to escape from the people who killed the Apostles.
Where do you think all those Christians went?
They went far and wide, keeping the Gospel they were taught.

Bill| 5.3.11 @ 5:23PM

There was a very large Eastern Christian Church, much of it Roman as opposed to Eastern Orthodox. It spread from Syria/Lebanon through Anatolia and on into China and Japan. The Muslim incursions put an end to a lot of it, but not all by any means. Even in the 20th Century, the city of Nagasaki was known as a Christian enclave in Japan. The Armenians were staunch defenders of their Roman Catholic faith. Many facets of the Christian faith such as Jacobinism, Arianism, and so on, found a home for more than a thousand years in the East.

kingsmill| 5.3.11 @ 7:04PM

Dismissing Blake as a "kook" by means of George Bernard Shaw, who championed Stalinism, eugenics and various and sundry other insanities, is idiotic.

bbs| 5.3.11 @ 8:11PM

Dear Mr. Colebatch---Blake's poetry often concerns child labor injustices and the loss of the historical justice of rural English society in the sad transformations of the Industrial Revolution (The mills were actually coming on strong by this date.) Certainly Chesterton, among other conservatives, would agree with these views. And Blake is speaking metaphorically about Our Lord appearing in England. This hymn is a plea for social justice through Christianity---appropriate for a royal wedding. Of course, we Americans hope for many of the same goals through other means. I would, however, agree with you in disassociating myself from any of the words or works of Mary Beard on any subject whatsoever.

John Meyer| 5.3.11 @ 10:06PM

Mary Beard is English. Mary Beard is a professor. But readers might think "The English professor Mary Beard" means she's a professor of English. She's not. She's professor in classics, of the ancient sort, both Greek and Latin, about neither of which, with "Jerusalem," do many in England anymore know very much, either. Which is one reason why it is no longer an empire, and also why America's aborted, along about 1965, when the Latin requirement in her colleges went away. There's hardly been an educated person here ever since, as the author of this screed against Blake makes plain.

marshcope| 5.4.11 @ 1:49AM

Surprised that Shaw hated The Internationale, which has very stirring music (and I am Far Right), and can even get rightists thinking about waving red fabric on pitchfork prongs.

Bill| 5.4.11 @ 9:02AM

"It is the final struggle, let each stand in his place!
The International party shall be the human race!"

Booker| 5.4.11 @ 10:25AM

More of the usual anti-British rant. Which UK tabloid story inspired this, Hal? By the way, as far as the nugget on industrial decline is concerned, the UK has the 6th largest global GDP, with 22% of this coming from industrial output (about the same as Japan). Not bad for a small island with a population of ~65m. Now, why don't you do something truly meaningful for your readers, like maybe comparing the Royal Navy with the Indian Navy? Or have you already covered that?

Franco| 5.4.11 @ 12:38PM

The composer Vangelis included "Jerusalem" in his soundtrack for the film "Chriots of Fire". I think its freaking lovely. Now, as far as Blake goes...

Rice Davoli| 5.4.11 @ 8:59PM

I almost fell out of my chair when Jerusalem started up. I thought then, and still do, that it was a joke by William and Kate on the whole wedding shtick. That, and the Parry at the start.

Troy Riser| 5.5.11 @ 11:52PM

I happen to like the works of William Blake: his art, his poetry. A matter of taste, I suppose. I doubt, however, even his most vehement detractors would believe Blake's 'Jerusalem' invited literal interpretation, or think the poem was intended as anything other than allegorical. As for the man himself, Blake was a vocal supporter of the American Revolution, something of a rebel for his time and place, but I don't recall reading anything by or about Blake promoting free love, and if he did, he must've kept those views well-hidden from his wife, to whom he was faithfully and lovingly married for decades, until his death.

So you don't like 'Jerusalem'? Okay, but disliking a particular poem or painting or piece of music doesn't necessarily mean you must suddenly dash off a badly written and poorly thought-out critical essay. At its best, Blake's poetry is filled with resonance and power, his visual art no less so. He deserves better than sophmoric dismissal.

wnmc| 5.8.11 @ 5:32PM

Coming in to this very late. Jerusalem is simply a beautiful and evocative song. Perhaps Blake was a kook but certainly no more kooky than many revered public figures today. I first sang the hymn/song when I was a little boy going to prep school in England and have loved it ever since.

Besides it is their wedding and they can pick the hymns they like. I picked Jerusalem for my father's funeral. He would have approved.

I Crause| 5.11.11 @ 11:21AM

Blake's writing presages many forms of modernist literature and thinking which came to prominence almost a century after his death, including his being credited (by the American Professor Harold Bloom, if memory serves) with being the first person in western culture to write down the link between childhood trauma and problems in adulthood (elaborated almost a century later by Freud).
Here are a few lines on faith from Jerusalem proper, which put the above article into its true, tragically limited scale :
When winter rends the hungry family and the snow falls:
Upon the ways of men hiding the paths of man and beast,
Then mourns the wanderer: then he repents his wanderings & eyes
The distant forest; then the slave groans in the dungeon of stone.
The captive in the mill of the stranger, sold for scanty hire.
They view their former life: they number moments over and over;
Stringing them on their remembrance as on a thread of sorrow.