Arthur

What is the attraction of Arthur? His story has enthralled centuries, and is absolutely built into the English psyche. He combines the stalwart good sense of the Brit with the magic of the Celt, the chivalry of the French, and the ancient echoes and reverberations of Imperial Rome. He is both a Christian and advised by a druid. He invites men and gives them a quest of Right, then sends them after God, so losing them. He himself is too sensible for God, and must make do with magic. [2003]

Winchester

King Alfred, who held Wessex against the Danes:The Old Mill, our (former) youth hostel, now a National Trust museum:

The Great Hall, site of another medieval tourist-seeking bamboozle, Arthur's Round Table:

West Gate of the city:

Thoughts on Romans, Arthur, Christianity (2007)

I pasted photos from the Warwick promotional pamphlet of the double-eagle Roman troops into my journal. The Romans were gone so many centuries before the next armoured groups of soldiers that it is hard to imagine them.

But I guess Romans were actually everywhere on this island except in the far North. They are so far back in time that they are almost magical—except that their artifacts are everywhere.

I wonder if Arthur really was Brit/Roman, in his actual incarnation. How can a mostly illiterate population maintain an advanced culture through centuries after the culture is gone, and under the onslaught of the Norse? And the Saxons. And the Normans. I wonder if Arthur really was Christian? He must have been an extraordinary personality—or have been eulogized by an extraordinary poet—to have made such a long-lasting impression.

Jesus was no earlier than the Romans in Britain, and I suppose in some ways Jesus was as much a child of the Romans as Arthur was. But the Arthur story includes Jesus of course.I had a thought about war imagery—expressed in its most silly form as “we’re fighting for peace.” I wonder (as we sing Sullivan’s “Onward Christian Soldiers”), if Jesus himself used such imagery. He said, “I bring not peace but a sword.” Maybe I need to look it up and see the context. Paul used the “whole armour of God” imagery. But in general Jesus used the language of peace—“resist not evil,” “love your enemies,” etc. Easy to forget that, or to believe it applies to our personal lives only and not nationally or in the collective. As Pres. Kimball said, “we are a warlike people.”

"Jerusalem" at the Proms

With only seven weeks until we head off to the UK again, it's time to finish posting on our previous trips! Here is a musical assignment for the 2009 students:

Every year the BBC hosts a series of popular concerts, which ends in a display of patriotic fervor, always including Parry and Blake's anthem "Jerusalem". It's a deceptively simple choral piece, and none of the previous groups to go to England have really gotten it under their belts. Listen to it here (words below), so that we can sing it on the trip.

In my opinion, "Jerusalem" is the English equivalent of "America the Beautiful."



"Jerusalem" by William Blake

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?

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
Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant land.

(As I understand it, the lyrics in the first and second verses refer to the legendary visit to England of Joseph of Arimathea, and presumably the young Christ)