If there are three pieces of music that
symbolise 'Englishness' for me,
they're Elgar's Enigma Variations; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and
Jerusalem, the unofficial national anthem of England. The music was composed by
Sir Hubert Parry and the words are by William Blake.
The words come from 'Milton: A Poem' by Blake. Blake's lyrics are not meant to convey some kind of sentimental patriotism for England. For Blake, Jerusalem represents an ideal utopian society of Universal love, liberty and spiritual freedom; the antithesis of the 'dark satanic mills' and the restoration of a 'green and pleasant land'.
William Blake viewed the industrial revolution as destroying the English landscape and the human spirit. The 18th century capitalist, Josiah Wedgewood, spoke of "making such machines of men, that cannot err." That would have appalled William Blake. As Blake wrote: "He who binds to himself a joy, Does the winged life destroy. He who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in eternity's sunrise."
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