Jerusalem
Jerusalem
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the
writing of William Blake's great hymn Jerusalem
, often now described as
the country's second national anthem.
Although not published until 1818, the hymn first appeared
as a preface to Blake's long poem called Milton
. The part of this work now
sung as the familiar, two-verse hymn And did those feet in ancient time
— or Jerusalem
for
short— was written, it is generally agreed, in 1804 while Blake
was living in the village of Felpham near Bognor Regis on the West Sussex coast.
The words, heavy with symbolism, combined with C. Hubert Parry's great sweeping melody, made for a hymn of huge appeal, an anthem in which all manner of men and women found they could happily join.
The singing of Jerusalem
became popular at Suffragette
rallies and to
open meetings of the Women's Institute, as well as finding a
place on solemn, state occasions. It still features at patriotic gatherings,
with a special place reserved for it during the Last Night of the Proms.
Blake's poetry in Jerusalem
has deeply entered the
national, psyche and his language reflects the strange but compelling web of
tales concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and the legend that
Christ
himself as a boy once visited the West Country.
While at first glance the dark satanic mills
might
simply represent the new factories of the industrial revolution through which
Blake lived, it is now felt that these words are symbolic of the growing
humanism of various seats of learning, upon which the poet wished to turn his
bow of burning gold
, that is his own intellect and reason.
Buried in London's Bunhill Fields, opposite Wesley's Chapel, City Road, Blake lies close to Issac Watts, John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles. It was pleasing to see that even in winter someone still puts flowers at Blake's modest headstone— a small "Thank you", perhaps for giving us the words to one of the great hymns.
© Fulwood Methodist Church
15:09:10 Wednesday, 26 October 2005
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