Why the music to Jerusalem is wrong

‘Jerusalem’ is probably our most patriotic anthem. It stirs our souls, makes our hearts beat faster and fills us with pride. It is a National Treasure.

But did Blake intend it to be patriotic? What if the answer to all the rhetorical questions isn’t ‘Yes’? What is the second verse about? Revolution? Sexual liberation? The imagery doesn’t feel like a celebration of the status quo…

The music was written by Hubert Parry in 1916 while war was raging. Was he still comfortable with its patriotic, bellicose nature as the true horrors of the carnage in the trenches became apparent?

This talk will explore all those questions, along with other extracts of the visionary poetry of William Blake. How he taught us to see ‘infinity in a grain of sand’ and how ‘the tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction’. The talk will take you from disease ridden 18th century London to the outer reaches of the Universe….