Why is jerusalem not a hymn

Bring me my chariot of fire. I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land. The text is about the legend that Jesus might have travelled, with Joseph of Arimathea, to England — in fact, to be precise, to Glastonbury.

When it was included as a patriotic poem in a collection for a country at war, it immediately caught the eye of choral composer Hubert Parry. Banned: Jerusalem will not be sung by choirs at Southwark Catherdral file picture. St Margaret's in Westminster - the parish church of Parliament - once refused to allow it to be sung at a memorial service because the church's clergy considered the contrast between the dark satanic mills and England's green and pleasant land discriminated against city-dwellers.

Vicars have also claimed it is "too nationalistic" - a reason cited by a Manchester cleric who told a couple they could not have it at their wedding in The same objection has also been regularly used against another much-loved Anglican favourite, I Vow to Thee, My Country. ES Money. The Escapist. Climate deal in crisis: Cop26 plan to save the planet is watered down as China and other major polluters John Lewis Christmas advert is embroiled in plagiarism row as store is forced to deny it copied folk band's Three migrants who fell from kayaks in the Channel are feared dead as anger grows at Macron for 'giving in Charles is 'drawing a line' under Michael Fawcett scandal as he 'prepares to be king': Prince's former Girl, 17, comes forward to say she was the woman bundled into car in suspected kidnap and she was not being Schoolboy, 10, mauled to death by lb 'Beast' dog suffered unsurvivable 'injuries to the head and neck', Man admits terror offence for wearing banned T-shirt supporting military wing of Hamas in Golders Green Wife of pilot, 67, weeps in court as he is jailed for 18 months for organising doomed flight that crashed Bus driver who was still at his stop refused to reopen his doors to let a stranded year-old girl on 'for Britain's job vacancies hit all-time high of 2.

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Dominic Cummings accuses Johnson of second jobs hypocrisy claiming Sticking up for your mates is commendable, Mishandling of the response to One of the most famous legends about Joseph's time in Glastonbury states that one night he struck his staff into the ground and went to sleep. When he awoke he saw that a hawthorn tree had miraculously sprung from the staff - and the Holy Thorn survived until it was cut down as a relic of superstition by the puritanical Roundheads during the Civil War.

It was replaced by the local council - twice - in the s, only to be hacked down with a chainsaw six years ago. No one is really sure why. So why did Blake spin a poem about a medieval myth? Probably because England at the time was a place of change and he wasn't entirely happy about the direction it was taking.