Let Us Therefore Brace Ourselves To Our Duties....

Eighty-five years ago today, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his most memorable speech during Britain's war against Adolf Hitler. The threat of invasion by German ground forces was high. The British people descended almost nightly into their bomb shelters as waves of Luftwaffe bombers flew overheard dropping their terror on thousands of victims.

Churchill was a master of the English language but even he struggled for the right words to both describe the reality his countrymen faced and rally them to endure what he knew would be their darkest hour:

The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.

Churchill would go on to receive the Nobel Prize in literature in 1953 for his many volumes of history, biography and other works. He possessed a vivid, lively writing style well worth reading for information as well as enjoyment. For more on this remarkable leader, here is a link to his Wikipedia entry.

And here is a link to the "finest hour" speech in its entirety of thirty minutes. All of it is worth hearing but as one would expect the conclusion is remarkably powerful beginning at 26:13


Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo, Imperial War Museums

Text
Winston Churchill, wikipedia.org

  

C. S. Lewis: Aim At Heaven And You Will Get Earth Thrown In. Aim At Earth And You Get Neither

 

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

                                                                            C.S. Lewis

I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from a close friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti revealed her affection for a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She moved on and I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof.

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis                                National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. One or more of those entries will speak to you for a long time.

Magna Carta Day 2024

By all accounts he was a rather nasty king who habitually squeezed money from his subjects to fund his quest for territory. He was so land hungry that he was nicknamed "Lackland" because his father gave all his sons territory except for him. By the early 1200's England's King John had lost Normandy and virtually all of Avignon to France. He also quarreled with Pope Innocent III over a nominee for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. By 1215, the king found himself face to face with opposition from influential, learned, and powerful members of English society.

On June 15 of that year the opposition demanded certain liberties from the English crown throughout the kingdom. King John had no alternative but to sign the document, the Magna Carta, if he wished to remain on the throne. The document had several demands including protection of the rights of the churh, prevention of illegal imprisonment of barons, guarantee of swift justice, and regulation of feudal fees to the monarchy. Administration was to be carried out by a council of 25 barons.


In the American experience, the Magna Carta of 1215 provided enthusiasm for independence from Great Britain and much of its intent would be embedded in the Declarartion of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1777), and U.S. Constitution (1789).

Articles of the Barons (Magna Carta), 1215 British Library

Here is a summation of the significance of the document for English people written by Michael Wood in his book, The Story of England, a companion volume to the BBC documentary of the same name:

In the Magna Carta in 1215 King John had acceded to the barons' demands made in response to his wholesale abuses of power. In essence it was a charter for the ruling class but it embodied the crucial principle that the king was bound by the law. Immediately after John's death Magna Carta was reissued in the name of his successor, and there were several versions up to 1225. Since then it has come to be regarded by English people, and by all who have adopted English law, as the chief constitutional defense against arbitrary or unjust rule. Its most famous clauses express some of the English people's most deeply held political beliefs, and pertain to both rich and poor: No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed, or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals, or by the law of the land. . . To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

Later lawyers found here the basis for fundamental English rights: equality before the law and freedom from arbitrary arrest . . . .

Stephen Hayward provides more information in this fine 2015 Instapundit tribute to today's historic moment in Western history.

Here is a British Library link to a complete translation of the Magna Carta. The original document is in Latin.




Sources


Text:
Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain, Eric R. Delderfield, David & Charles Publishers, Devon, 1977

St. George's Day 2024

Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where St. George is recognized as a patron saint. We're happy to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.

We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable.

The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's Preface to Milton. 

Preface to Milton from Blake's illuminated version, 1804

In a fitting conclusion for our St. George commemoration I present a rousing song from the Empire period that has survived to become a great symbol of British patriotism and pride. From Last Night at the Proms 2009, it is Rule Britainnia. sung by Dame Susan Connoly.

Rule Britainnia (Complete lyrics)


When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And Guardian Angels sang this strain:

(Chorus) Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.

The nations not so blest as thee
Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall,
While thou shalt flourish great and free:
The dread and envy of them all.

(Chorus)

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
More dreadful from each foreign stroke,
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.

(Chorus)

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
But work their woe and thy renown.

(Chorus)

To thee belongs the rural reign;
Thy cities shall with commerce shine;
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles, thine.

(Chorus)

The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coasts repair.
Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.

(Chorus)

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.

Sources

Text:

classicfm.com

Photos and Illustrations:
Family archives
Preface to Milton, public domain, wikipedia.com

C. S. Lewis: For The Goodness And Happiness Of Individual Lives

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

                                                                            C.S. Lewis

I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from a close friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti revealed her affection for a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She moved on and I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof.

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis                                National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. One or more of those entries will speak to you for a long time.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

                                                                                   C.S. Lewis        

Sources

Text:
title quote from "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State." an essay in God in the Dock, published in The Observer, July 20, 1958

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Forever England

The English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, was born on this day in 1872. The brief introduction to his biography appearing on the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society website says all that need be said about this beloved interpreter of the musical themes and varied landscapes of England:

[He] is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of ‘Englishness’.

Vaughan Williams expressed this "Englishness" as a prolific composer of a full spectrum of classical music grounded in the extensive research of English folk tunes and their preservation in his works.

I suspect the quality of music education in the public schools, if the curriculum exists at all, is not nearly as comprehensive today as it was in the 1950's or 1960's. In those years surrounding Vaughan Williams's death in 1958 he was revered as the beloved dean of composers in much of the Western world. In the 65 years following his death he remains a popular force in the music of our lives. Here are some likely familiar examples that renew themselves on every hearing:

I imagine hearing these pieces takes some readers back to those introductory music classes in middle school with their mechanics of music, basic performances, and musical history that included the great composers and their works. That was a long time ago but for me those introductions led to hours of enjoyment listening to all kinds of music over the past six decades. I'm very happy for that and trust that more than a few readers have enjoyed a similar experience.

Magna Carta Day 2023

By all accounts he was a rather nasty king who habitually squeezed money from his subjects to fund his quest for territory. He was so land hungry that he was nicknamed "Lackland" because his father gave all his sons territory except for him. By the early 1200's England's King John had lost Normandy and virtually all of Avignon to France. He also quarreled with Pope Innocent III over a nominee for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. By 1215, the king found himself face to face with opposition from influential, learned, and powerful members of English society.

On June 15 of that year the opposition demanded certain liberties from the English crown throughout the kingdom. King John had no alternative but to sign the document, the Magna Carta, if he wished to remain on the throne. The document had several demands including protection the rights of the churh, prevention of illegal imprisonment of barons, guarantee of swift justice, and regulation of feudal fees to the monarchy. Adminsitartion was to be carried out by a council of 25 barons.

In the American experience, the Magna Carta of 1215 provided enthusiasm for independence from Great Britain and much of its intent would be embedded in the Declarartion of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1777), and U.S. Constitution (1789).

Articles of the Barons (Magna Carta), 1215 British Library

Here is a summation of the significance of the document for English people written by Michael Wood in his book, The Story of England, a companion volume to the BBC documentary of the same name:

In the Magna Carta in 1215 King John had acceded to the barons' demands made in response to his wholesale abuses of power. In essence it was a charter for the ruling class but it embodied the crucial principle that the king was bound by the law. Immediately after John's death Magna Carta was reissued in the name of his successor, and there were several versions up to 1225. Since then it has come to be regarded by English people, and by all who have adopted English law, as the chief constitutional defense against arbitrary or unjust rule. Its most famous clauses express some of the English people's most deeply held political beliefs, and pertain to both rich and poor: No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed, or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals, or by the law of the land. . . To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

 Later lawyers found here the basis for fundamental English rights: equality before the law and freedom from arbitrary arrest . . . .

Stephen Hayward provide more information in this fine 2015 Instapundit tribute to today's historic moment in Western history.

Here is a British Library link to a complete translation of the Magna Carta. The original document is in Latin.

Sources


Text:
Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain, Eric R. Delderfield, David & Charles Publishers, Devon, 1977

St. George's Day 2023

Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where St. George is recognized as a patron saint. We're happy to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.

We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable.

The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's preface to Milton and is a fitting concluding image for our St. George commemoration.

Preface to Milton from Blake's illuminated version, 1804

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

Family archives

Preface to Milton, public domain, wikipedia.com

C.S. Lewis: "Progress, For Me, Means Increasing Goodness And Happiness In Individual Lives."

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from my best friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti revealed her affection for a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She moved on and I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof.

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a close friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. One or more of those entries will speak to you for a long time.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

Sources

Text:

title quote from "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State." an essay in God in the Dock, published in The Observer, July 20, 1958

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Painting A Canvas Of Sound

The English composer, Ralph Vaughan WIlliams, was born on this day in 1872. The brief introduction to his biography appearing on the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society website says all that need be said about this beloved interpreter of the musical themes and varied landscapes of England:

[He] is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of ‘Englishness’.

I suspect the quality of music education in the public schools, if the curriculum exists at all, is not nearly as comprehensive today as it was in the 1950's. In that decade Vaughan Williams was the beloved dean of composers in much of the Western world. In the half century following his death he remains a popular force in the music of our lives. Here are some likely familiar examples that renew themselves on every hearing:

St. George's Day 2022

 

Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where St. George is recognized as a patron saint. We're happy to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.

We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable.


The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's preface to Milton and is a fitting concluding image for our St. George commemoration.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
Family archives

C.S. Lewis: An Intellectual For The Rest Of Us

 

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

C.S. Lewis

I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from my best friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti revealed her affection for a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She moved on and I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof.

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis                             National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a close friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. One or more of those entries will speak to you for a long time. 

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

C.S. Lewis

William Blake's Worlds Of Imagination

 

To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour

from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake, 1803

On this day in 1757 the British artist and writer, William Blake, was born in London. He is without a doubt my favorite anarchist. In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought he was a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. Two centuries later he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism, and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world.

There is one certainty about Blake's work and that is its complexity. He is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of the West and its traditions. I hope you will take time to examine him and his extraordinary contributions to our experience. To explore his work appropriately is beyond the intent of this blog and capability of its author. For readers who want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's expanded version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.

William Blake             Thomas Phillips, English, 1807

I have learned much from the artist and philosopher, William Blake, in an effort to balance my life between intellect and emotion. So far it's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. These works have been a part of that experience:

In the following illustration Blake depicts his character, Urizen, [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father [and often God the Son] as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of Blake's imagination.

The Ancient of Days                         William Blake, 1793

Here Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping (the dividers, once more) the world of humankind on the earth. Newton has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.

Newton                                                William Blake, 1795

Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason (the dividers) brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the recline female nude) and a redeemed humanity

The Descent of Peace         William Blake, ca. 1815

One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton: A Poem. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as embodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.

The stolen and perverted writings of Homer and Ovid, of Plato and Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible; but when the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right, and those grand works of the more ancient, and consciously and professedly Inspired men will hold their proper rank, and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration, Shakspeare and Milton were curb'd by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant hirelings! For we have hirelings in the camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress mental, and prolong corporeal war. Painters! on you I call. Sculptors! Architects! suffer not the fashionable fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works, or the expensive advertising boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ and His Apostles that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman models if we are but just and true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever, in Jesus our Lord.

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,

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets. Numbers xi, ch. 26

Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:

As this tribute comes to a close, I'd like to reference one of Blake's poems that virtually all children read before the end of their middle schools years a half century ago. It's remarkably simple in form yet its questions brim with imagination and wonder. I so hope that "The Tyger" is still read and heard by young students so they can remember its message over their varied lifetimes.

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies,

Burnt the fire in thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake                     John Linnell, English, 1863

He who binds himself to a joy

Doth the winged life destroy

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in Eternity's sunrise

Eternity, William Blake, 1803

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
wikipedia.com
Blake portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Newton, Tate Gallery, London, U.K.blakearchive.org/Blake

Text:
wikipedia.com, Blake entry
blakearchive.org/Blake
bartleby.com/235/284.html
Jacob Bronowski, A Man Without A Mask, Seeker and Warburg, London, 1944

Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Sound Of Englishness

The English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, was born on this day in 1872. The brief introduction to his biography appearing on the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society website says all that need be said about this beloved interpreter of the musical themes and varied landscapes of England:

[He] is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of ‘Englishness’.

Vaughan Williams expressed this "Englishness" as a prolific composer of a full spectrum of classical music grounded in the extensive research of English folk tunes and their preservation in his works.

I suspect the quality of music education in the public schools, if the curriculum exists at all, is not nearly as comprehensive today as it was in the 1950's or 1960's In those years surrounding Vaughan Williams's death 1958 he was revered as the beloved dean of composers in much of the Western world. In the seventy years following his death he remains a popular force in the music of our lives. Here are some likely familiar examples that renew themselves on every hearing:

I imagine hearing these pieces takes some readers back to those introductory music classes in middle school with their mechanics of music, basic performances, and musical history that included the great composers and their works. That was a long time ago but for me those introductions led to hours of enjoyment  listening to all kinds of music over the past six decades. I'm very happy for that and trust that more than a few readers have enjoyed a similar experience. 

 

St. Georges Day: ". . .Nor Shall My Sword Sleep In My Hand. . ."

 

Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where St. George is recognized as a patron saint.  We're happy to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.  

We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable. 

The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's preface to Milton and is a fitting concluding image for remembering a legend.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
Family archives

Text:

Title taken from Milton: A Poem in Two Books, William Blake, 1811
Saint George's Day in England,  wikipedia.com
St. George's Traditions, https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6118639/st-georges-day-2020-traditions-flag/

C.S. Lewis: Being Just, Merciful, And Brave

 

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

                                                                           C.S. Lewis


I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from my best friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti moved on and met a professor of English at UNC Chapel Hill. I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof. 

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis                                                        National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a close friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Choose...and enjoy.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

                                                                                C.S. Lewis

The Feast of Saint George

Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where he is recognized as a patron saint.  Heavy rain and thunderstorms abated by noon offering us an opportunity to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.  The Cross banner is proudly displayed everywhere on this day

We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable. 

The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's preface to Milton and is a fitting concluding image for remembering a legend.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations

Family archives

Text:

Saint George's Day in England  wikipedia.com

St. George's Traditions, https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6118639/st-georges-day-2020-traditions-flag/

William Blake: Revolutionary Romantic

In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought him a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. William Blake was born into this environment on this day in 1757. Two centuries later he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism, and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world. 

William Blake                       Thomas Phillips, English, 1897

Blake is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of England and its traditions. And there is one certainty about his imagination and expression. It is complex.In the following illustration Blake depicts his character, Urizen, [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father [and often God the Son] as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of his imagination.

The Ancient of Days                                                                 William Blake, 1793

Here Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping (the dividers, once more) the world of humankind on the earth. Newton has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.

Newton                                                                               William Blake, 1795

Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason (the dividers) brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the reclining female nude) and a redeemed humanity.

The Descent of Peace                         William Blake, ca. 1815

One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton A Poem. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as embodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.

The stolen and perverted writings of Homer and Ovid, of Plato and Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible; but when the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right, and those grand works of the more ancient, and consciously and professedly Inspired men will hold their proper rank, and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration, Shakspeare and Milton were curb'd by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant hirelings! For we have hirelings in the camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress mental, and prolong corporeal war. Painters! on you I call. Sculptors! Architects! suffer not the fashionable fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works, or the expensive advertising boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ and His Apostles that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman models if we are but just and true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever, in Jesus our Lord.

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,

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets. Numbers xi, ch. 26

Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:

I have learned much from the artist and philosopher, William Blake, in my struggle to balance life between intellect and emotion. So far it's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. If readers want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's updated version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
wikipedia.com
Blake portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Newton, Tate Gallery, London, U.K.blakearchive.org/Blake

Text:
wikipedia.com, Blake entry
blakearchive.org/Blake
bartleby.com/235/284.html
Jacob Bronowski, A Man Without A Mask, Seeker and Warburg, London, 1944