English National Anthem

[wehatepalace]

I clicked GSTQ but meant to click Land of Hope & Glory

 

[Buzzer]

I was referring to the implication of the poem rather than Blake himself. Jerusalem isn't a hymn as it doesn't praise or worship God, so as a poem, with it's presentation of a proto-socialist utopia, it's appealing to those of a proto-atheist Enlightenment view. Blake of course was happy to dismiss even Newton's scientific theories, so I can safely agree with you on that.

I don't know then as the subtle nuances are lost to me but I'd say from reading Ackroyd that Blake's idea of worship and his faith were for a very personal relationship with his God, sort of going right back to its very earliest days where the churches didn't have hierarchies, taboos and suchlike, and Jerusalem was the most perfect expression of his beliefs.

I'm not really following how this fits in with atheism other than atheists and non-conformists resented the stranglehold that organised religion had over the nation.

 

[matthew]

Something republican and secular? Is it so much to ask

 

[Ding Dong !]

Definitely "There'll always be an England"!!! You just have to listen to the lyrics, Makes you proud to be English!...

I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen.
I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen.
May this fair dear land we love so well
In dignity and freedom dwell.
Though worlds may change and go awry
While there is still one voice to cry - - -

There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane,
Wherever there's a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.
There'll always be an England
While there's a busy street,
Wherever there's a turning wheel,
A million marching feet.

Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you?
Surely you're proud, shout it aloud,
"Britons, awake!"
The empire too, we can depend on you.
Freedom remains. These are the chains
Nothing can break.

There'll always be an England,
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me.

Okay, you may want to drop the first verse, and probably want to drop the lyrics "Red, white and blue", "Britons", and "empire" to something more English-based, but it has all the ingredients of a fantastic national anthem; a catchy tune, easy to remember, and stirring lyrics about the actual nation!!! I can't believe no one can listen to these versions of There'll always be an England without being emotionally gripped to England!..
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Makes you proud to be English, gives you shivers down the spine and brings tears to your eyes!

Do you know what, I agree with you, I think, There'll always be an England ( without first verse ) would be a great anthem. Real stirring stuff Played the vid a number of times and gets better every time i hear it. Really catchy to.

 

[Bracknell_Gull]

Land of Hope & Glory for me.

Although I have always had an inkling for Rule Britannia as a national anthem, in place of GSTQ. But this would be more appropriate for Great Britain as a whole, rather than England itself.

 

[Diego Napier]

"I vow to thee, my country" for me.

I Vow to Thee, My Country...................................


Should have been on the list in it's own right.....


TNBA

TTF

My vote goes for "Vow To Thee My Country". It says all I feel about England and why I'm so proud to be an Englishman.

Another vote from me for I vow to thee my country, a major omission from the list, surely the most moving/stirring anthem to England?

 

[pastafarian]

Sky News poll today

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm not really following how this fits in with atheism other than atheists and non-conformists resented the stranglehold that organised religion had over the nation.

I really only looked closely at the poem as part of a bit of a paper/essay on utopian writing I did many years ago, starting with Plato, then Blake, moving onto Zamyatin, Huxley etc. The poem isn't a salvation of man like many religious texts, the religious aspects of it are really the motivational tools of how society could move forward to a more enlightened ideal. It isn't enough though for Blake to say build heaven on earth, or in England because God is great, underlying the poem is a critique of the present, a political notion that things aren't what they should be - his dissident voice. This is a poem about the 'city', the idea of the first utopia being a city predates Plato in thinking, so something has gone wrong i.e. what Blake sees in London at the time, and this is a positive vision out of it. It appealed to your early doubters, non conformists etc. because the vision wasn't actually about God, it was about living in a better place, it was about having a better society.

 

[Simster]

Land of Hope and Glory please.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

If one is to be used, it has to be something that is already adopted by the fans at sports events and crowds of English people at gatherings. I am thinking of how "Waltzing Matilda" has become the unofficial anthem of Australia and is now used - because it is a song of the people.

It could be anything that has anthemic qualities and makes people feel good. The trouble with modern compositions, do you pay a royalty every time they play it?

 

[Sussaxon]

Another vote from me for I vow to thee my country, a major omission from the list, surely the most moving/stirring anthem to England?

Yet, "I Vow to Thee, My Country" never makes reference to England or the English. Could be about any country in the world...

 

[Sussaxon]

Do you know what, I agree with you, I think, There'll always be an England ( without first verse ) would be a great anthem. Real stirring stuff Played the vid a number of times and gets better every time i hear it. Really catchy to.

I told you!

 

[Megazone]

Lola- The Kinks.

 

[Acker79]

The problem with hope and glory is that it uses the music from pomp and circumstance, which Macho Man Randy Savage used as his entrance theme. No one will be able to resist doing impressions of him. Oooooh, yeah! Dig it!

 

[Titanic]

The problem with hope and glory is that it uses the music from pomp and circumstance, which Macho Man Randy Savage used as his entrance theme. No one will be able to resist doing impressions of him. Oooooh, yeah! Dig it!

That... and the 'wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set...' jingoistic lyrics...

 

[SAC]

I'd vote for "f'uck 'em up - get into 'em" repeated over and over. Can't find it on You Tube anywhere, not from the festival of remembrance anyway.

 

[Diego Napier]

Yet, "I Vow to Thee, My Country" never makes reference to England or the English. Could be about any country in the world...

but it isn't........