Quote ="JB Down Under"Among these dark satanic mills?
was he talking about West Yorkshire?
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My understanding - the "Dark Satanic Mills" was in truth an analogy for the established church. For "mill" read "church", or more so "cathedral" IMO. Blake wrote the lyrics at the very start of the 19th century...well before the full rush of the industrial revolution but when nevertheless there was serious serious social deprivation, and a ruling elite - including the church and the palace - hideously removed from the realities.
And mmp - what you wrote is absolutely my understanding too, and I listen to - and sing - this superb piece of music very much in that context. It is NO WAY a hymn in the established sense - in its day, had Parry written the brilliant music at the same time Blake wrote the poem, it would have been a revolutionary song! And indeed, some reactionary dioceses have banned it because they realise it is not to the glory of God, or at least definitely NOT to the glory of the corrupt established church of the day.
As I see it, anyway.
Look no further than "London" for guidance on how Blake saw things - this was at the very end of the 18th century:
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage he.
Theyt don't come much more powerful than that? Every word counts. "mind-forg’d manacles", "Every black'ning Church appalls"...powerful imagery there?
Forget Marx and Engels...Blake was your original socialist - and he had every right to be. Read "London", then read "Jerusalem" in that context, I suggest?
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