Showing posts with label Blake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blake. Show all posts

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Public Domain Poetry: Excerpt from "Jerusalem," William Blake (1757-1827)

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And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

The preface to Milton, as it appeared in Blake's own illuminated version
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Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
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.
(1804-1820)

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Originally titled "And did those feet in ancient time," this William Blake poem is from the preface to his epic Milton: a Poem (1804). Today it is best known as the hymn "Jerusalem," with music written by C. Hubert H. Parry in 1916.

This hymn is often referred to as England's unofficial second national anthem.

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