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And did those feet in ancient timey
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Diviney
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded herey
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
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 Fighty
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.1
A Adding Hymn?
In a less than flattering article written immediately after the music for the marriage service of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey had been announced, the Catholic journalist Damián Thompson commented that "Parry is by a long chalk the upper classes' favourite wedding composer, even if they've never heard of him. That's not because he wrote ? was glad,' splendid though it is, but because he composed the tune to 'Jerusalem.'"2 While somewhat cynical, Thompson's account is accurate: Parry's "Jerusalem" is one of the most popular wedding hymns, although it is not possible to know, as Thompson suggested with journalistic licence, whether this is restricted to the so-called "Sloanes"3 of the upper-class Chelsea set, among whom can be included the royal family. The choice of Parry's setting of "Jerusalem" for the royal wedding produced a fair amount of blogging, some of it critical for the song's supposed patriotic fervour and its failure to understand the implications of Blake's radicalism,4 but most of it fully in support of such a rousing hymn.5 "Jerusalem" is a hymn that has provoked some strong emotions ever since it was first written, and some have even tried to suppress it.
Banning "Jerusalem"
In the spring of 2008, the dean of Southwark Cathedral, Colin Slee, is reported to have intervened to prevent the singing of Sir Hubert Parry's setting of William Blake's "Jerusalem" at a private memorial service in his cathedral. A spokesperson commented: "The Dean of Southwark does not believe that it is to the glory of God and it is not therefore used in private memorial services."6 This is not the only time that the hymn...