Description
Book SynopsisA reception history of William Blake's 'Jerusalem' that traces the hymn's increasing associations with national identity and explores how different social and political factions, both left and right, have sought to impose their own meaning on building Jerusalem.
Trade ReviewThis book is fascinating ... Blake the revolutionary was never more relevant * Michael Church *
Jerusalem is a wonderfully researched, enjoyable work about a cultural phenomenon of the utmost familiarity, and it performs its task very successfully...Whittaker proves an excellent, lucid guide to realms of almost unimagined obscurity. * Philip Hensher, The Spectator *
Whittaker produces fascinating and surprising insights. His analysis of the different ways that "Jerusalem" has been decontextualized and recontextualized serves as a comprehensive case study in reception history and highlights the complexities of national identity. * Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Arrows of Desire 1: And Did Those Feet? Blake and Milton, 1800-1827 2: Our Clouded Hills: Before 'Jerusalem', 1827-1915 3: Mental Fight: Parry, the Great War and its Aftermath, 1916-1922 4: Dark Satanic Mills: Peace and War, 1923-1945 5: Bring Me My Bow: Empire's End, 1945-1976 6: Chariot of Fire: Thatcher's Britain and the End of the Cold War, 1977-1996 7: Green and Pleasant Land: From Blair to Brexit, 1997-2016 Epilogue: Albion
