And did those feet in ancient time

And did Those feet in ancient time is a poem of William Blake, resulting from the foreword of Milton . It is known nowadays under the title Jerusalem , which comes from its adaptation in anthem by Hubert Parry.

The words are (there are the small different ones between alternatives from this text, the version below being drawn from The Complete Poetry and Prose off William Blake , David V. Erdman ED.):

And did Those feet in ancient times

Walk upon England' S mountains green?

And was the Holy Lamb off God

One England' S pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine

Shine forth His Hand o' er hill and flagstone

And was Jerusalem builded there

Among those dark Satanic Millets?

Bring me my Bow off Burning Gold;

Bring me my Arrows off Desired;

Bring me my Spear; O clouds Unfold!

Bring me my Chariot off Fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

NOR shall my Sword sleep in my hand,

Till we cuts built Jerusalem

In England' S green and pleasant Land.

It is about a reference to a visit which would have made, according to an account apocryphal book, Jesus, accompanied by Saint Joseph d' Arimathie, with Glastonbury, in Great Britain. The “carriage off fire” to which it is referred is a biblical reference to the rise with the sky of the prophet Élie (2Rois 2:11).

Jerusalem

The anthem Jerusalem is one of most famous English patriotic airs the (to be compared in particular with: Rule Britannia of Thomas Arne, and Land off Hope and Glory on the music of the first walk Pomp and Circumstance of Edward Elgar; together, in fact the three songs are entonnés by the assistance at the time of the “Last Night off the Proms”), and at a certain time almost the English national anthem.

The Monty Python began again and parodied this anthem on several occasions. It is heard for example transformed into “And did those teeth in ancient times”. But especially, in the “sketch of the mattresses”, there is a salesman of mattress in an involved department store of which one never should pronounce the word “mattress” (it is necessary to say “niche of dog” to the place - except that it does not include/understand), if not he puts a bag paper on his head, and the only way of making it become again normal is to put themselves in a carton and to sing Jerusalem …

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