by HMKGrey » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:29 am
I've been watching a lot of soccer this week. And it always shocks me how much the English, fuelled by a bit of booze, like to sing when football is involved. They'll quite happily sing all the way through a game. Amongst their various chants and wicked satires they'll often break in to a collective and emotionally charged rendition of 'Jerusalem', the Blake poem set to music by William Walton during the First World War. If you've ever witnessed this you will know what I mean when I say that it is quite an extraordinary thing. It's a sublimely beautiful lyric and the melody itself is both melancholy and yet filled with a powerful sense of strength and determination. Even the most addled and boisterous English football fan seems able to sing this with a fervour bounded only by an innate reverence. Many will tell you that "Jerusalem" is the true national anthem of England. <br><br>But what's really fascinating about this song is that it actually refers to Blake's belief that Jesus once visited England and, in particular, the town of Glastonbury in the south west. <br><br>The town is particularly notable for the myths and legends surrounding a nearby hill, rising up from the otherwise flat landscape of the Somerset Levels, which looks man-made (but isn't), Glastonbury Tor. These myths concern Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail, and also King Arthur. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines.<br><br>The Joseph of Arimathea legend relates to the idea that Glastonbury was the birthplace of Christianity in the British Isles, and that the first British church was built there at Joseph's behest to house the Holy Grail, 30 or so years after the death of Jesus. The legend also says that earlier Joseph had visited Glastonbury along with Jesus as a Child. William Blake believed in this legend and wrote the poem that became the words to the most patriotic of English songs, 'Jerusalem' (see And did those feet in ancient time).<br><br>Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground, which flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn (or Holy Thorn). This is the explanation behind the existence of a hybrid hawthorn tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury. This hawthorn flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut by the local Church of England priest and sent to the Queen to feature on her Christmas table top.<br><br>The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the middle ages but was chopped down during the English Civil War (in legend the roundhead soldier who did it was blinded by a flying splinter). A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain; but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take); but many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey and Chalice Well.<br><br>In some versions of the Arthurian myth, Glastonbury is conceived of as the legendary island of Avalon. An early Welsh story links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a face-off between Arthur and the Celtic king, Melwas, who had apparently kidnapped Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. Geoffrey of Monmouth first identified Glastonbury with Avalon in 1133. In 1191, monks at the Abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady Chapel of the Abbey church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved, and lost during the Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Jerusalem<br></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Written by William Blake<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>And did those feet in ancient time<br>Walk upon England's mountains green<br>And was the holy lamb of God<br>On England's pleasant pastures seen<br><br>And did the countenance divine<br>Shine forth upon our clouded hills<br>And was Jerusalem builded there<br>Among those dark Satanic mills<br><br>Bring me my bow (my bow) of burning gold<br>Bring me my arrows of desire<br>Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold<br>Bring me my chariot of fire<br><br>I will not cease from mental fight<br>Nor shall my (my) sword sleep in hand<br>'Til we have built Jerusalem<br>In England's green and pleasant land<br>'Til we have built Jerusalem<br>In England's green and pleasant land</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>============================<br><br>I've been meaning to bring the Blake/Glastonbury/Grail connection up for a while. I always think we should be talking about Blake more often than we do. Hope this launches some interesting searches... <p></p><i></i>