NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Merry England

"Merry England", or in more jocular, archaised spelling "Merrie England", is an idealised, idyllic, and pastoral way of life that the inhabitants of England allegedly enjoyed at some point or points between the Middle Ages and the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Ronald Hutton's study of churchwarden's accounts, The Rise and Fall of Merrie England: The Ritual Year, 1400-1700 places the creation of "Merry England" in the years between 1350 and 1520, with the annual festive round of the newly-elaborative^[1] liturgical year, with candles and pageants, processions and games, boy bishops and decorated rood lofts. "Merry England" is a utopian and not completely consistent vision: a revisited England, "the thatched cottage, the country inn, the cup of tea, and Sunday roast". It may be treated both as a product of the sentimental nostalgic imagination, and an ideological construct. "With Merrie England we are in the sphere of folklorism", Roy Judge addressed the Folklore Society in 1991.^[2] "It is a world that has never actually existed, a visionary, mythical landscape, where it is difficult to take normal historical bearings." Each Old England of the past reveals its own colour of nostalgia for an earlier age from which it was conscious of declining. An idyll is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocrituss short pastoral poems, the Idylls. ... For other uses, see Pastoral (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... A Watt steam engine, the steam engine that propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. ... Boy Bishop, was a name given to a custom very widespread in the Middle Ages, whereby a boy was chosen, for example among cathedral choristers, to parody the real Bishop, commonly on the feast of Holy Innocents. ... Rood has several distinct meanings, all derived from the same basic etymology. ... For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Thatching is the art or craft of covering a roof with vegetative materials such as straw, reed or sedge. ... A public house, usually known as a pub, is a drinking establishment found mainly in the Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries influenced by British cultural heritage. ... For other uses, see Tea (disambiguation). ... Sunday roast consisting of roast beef, roast potatoes, vegetables and yorkshire pudding The Sunday roast is a traditional British main meal served on Sundays (usually in the early afternoon), and consisting of roasted meat together with accompaniments. ... Nostalgia currently describes a longing for the past: Often an idealized and unrealistic past The term was originally coined in 1678 by Johannes Hoffer (1669-1752) from Greek (νόστος = nostos = ones homeland, άλγος = algos = pain/longing) roots, to refer to the pain a sick person feels because he is... The Folklore Society was founded in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief. ...

Origins and themes

The concept of a Merry England may have originated in the Middle Ages, describing a utopian state of life that peasants aspired to lead (see Cockaigne). Peasant revolts, such as those led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw invoked a visionary idea that was also egalitarian. Tyler's rebels wished to throw off the "Norman yoke" and return to a perceived time where the Saxons ruled in equality and freedom. The main arguments of Tyler's rebels were that there was no basis for aristocratic rule in the Bible, and that the plague had demonstrated by its indiscriminate nature that all people were equal under God. Thus they adopted the rhetoric of Norman vs. Saxon conflict as part of a much wider ideology. This idealized view of society was in any case an unrealistic version of life in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although there was a period after the Black Death when labour shortages meant that agricultural workers were in stronger positions, and the good harvests and gentle inflation of the thirteenth century had eased fixed burdens owed to landlords by smallholders. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1695, 237 KB) Description: Title: de: Vor dem Tor von Calais (Das Roastbeef von Alt-England) Technique: de: Ã–l auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 78,5 Ã— 94,5 cm Country of origin: de: GroÃŸbritanien Current location (city): de: London Current location... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1695, 237 KB) Description: Title: de: Vor dem Tor von Calais (Das Roastbeef von Alt-England) Technique: de: Ã–l auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 78,5 Ã— 94,5 cm Country of origin: de: GroÃŸbritanien Current location (city): de: London Current location... The Gate of Calais or O, the Roast Beef of Old England is a 1748 painting by William Hogarth, reproduced as a print from an engraving the next year. ... William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 â€“ October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ... For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation). ... Pieter Bruegel the Elders â€žDas Schlaraffenlandâ€œ (The Land of Cockaigne), painted in 1567. ... This article is about the revolt leader Wat Tyler. ... Jack Straw (probably the same person as Rackstraw) was one of the three leaders (together with John Ball and Wat Tyler) of the Peasants Revolt or Great Rising of 1381, a major event in the history of Britain. ... Narrowly, a visionary is one who experiences a supernatural vision or apparition. ... Egalitarianism is the moral doctrine that equality ought to prevail among some group along some dimension. ... The Norman Yoke is term that emerged in English Nationalist discourse in the mid-17th century. ... Norman conquests in red. ... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... This article concerns the mid fourteenth century pandemic. ...

Ronald Hutton's history reports the collapse of the annual festal round in parish society with the English Reformation. Official prohibitions suppressed the confraternities that organized and supported church ales. A growing fashion for religious austerity forced maypoles and the like into the secular sphere, where they were attacked by the godly as disturbances; James I wrote a pamphlet against such sports. The Long Parliament put an end to ales, the last of which was held in 1641, and drove Christmas underground, where it was kept privately, as a form of protest. This box: King Henry VIII of England. ... Confraternities may refer to: Confraternities of the Cord Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Confraternity of the Rosary Archconfraternity Category: ... Dancing around the maypole, in Ã…mmeberg, Sweden The maypole is a tall wooden pole (traditionally of hawthorn or birch), sometimes erected with several long coloured ribbons suspended from the top, festooned with flowers, draped in greenery and strapped with large circular wreaths, depending on local and regional variances. ... The Long Parliament is the name of the English Parliament called by Charles I, in 1640, following the Bishops Wars. ... For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation). ...

At various times since the Middle Ages, authors, propagandists, romanticists, poets and others have revived or co-opted the term. The celebrated Hogarth engraving illustrating the patriotic song "The Roast Beef of Old England" (see illustration), is as anti-French as it is patriotic. Hogarth may refer to: Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist, illustrator, educator and author. ... The Roast Beef of Old England is an English patriotic ballad by Richard Leveridge. ...

William Hazlitt's essay "Merry England", appended to his Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819),^[3] popularised the specific term, introduced in tandem with an allusion to the iconic figure of Robin Hood, under the epigraph "St George for merry England!": // William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 â€“ 18 September 1830) was an English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, often esteemed the greatest English literary critic after Samuel Johnson. ... An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference/representation of/to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. ... For other uses, see Robin Hood (disambiguation). ... In literature, an epigraph is a quotation that is placed at the start of a work or section that expresses in some succinct way an aspect or theme of what is to follow. ...

Hazlitt's subject was the traditional sports and rural diversions native to the English. In Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England (1844: translated as The Condition of the Working Class in England), Friedrich Engels wrote sarcastically of Young England (a ginger-group of young aristocrats hostile to the new industrial order) that they hoped to restore "the old 'merry England' with its brilliant features and its romantic feudalism. This object is of course unattainable and ridiculous ..." The phrase "merry England" appears in English in the German text.^[4] Engels redirects here. ... Oh! the vests of Young England are perfectly white, And theyre cut very neatly and sit very tight, And they serve to distinguish our Young Englishmen From the juvenile MANNERS to CONINGSBY BEN. (Punch, 28 December, 1844) The Victorian era political group Young England was born on the playing...

William Cobbett provided conservative commentary on the rapidly changing look and mores of an industrialising nation^[5] by invoking the stable social hierarchy and prosperous working class of the pre-industrial country of his youth in his Rural Rides (1822-26, collected in book form, 1830). The later works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge also subscribed to some extent to the "Merry England" view. Thomas Carlyle's Past and Present also made the case for Merrie England; the conclusion of Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock contrasts the mediaevalism of Mr. Chainmail to the contemporary social unrest. Barry Cornwall's patriotic poem. "Hurrah for Merry England", was set twice to music and printed in The Musical Times, in 1861 and 1880. William Cobbett, portrait in oils possibly by George Cooke around 1831. ... Rural Rides is the book for which the reformer William Cobbett is best known. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 â€“ July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 â€“ 5 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, satirist, and historian, whose work was hugely influential during the Victorian era. ... Past and Present is a book written by Thomas Carlyle. ... Thomas Love Peacock (October 18, 1785 - January 23, 1866) was an English satirist and author. ... The Musical Times is an European classical music journal (originally appearing monthly; now quarterly) edited and produced in the UK. It is currently the oldest such journal to be still publishing in that country, having been continuously in publication since 1844. ...

In the 1830s, the Gothic revival promoted what once had been a truly international European style. Its stages, though, had been given purely English antiquarian labels—"Norman" for the Romanesque, "Early English", etc—and the revival was stretched to include also the succeeding, more specifically English style: a generic English Renaissance revival, later named "Jacobethan". The revival was spurred by a series of lithographs by Joseph Nash (1839 – 1849), illustrating The Mansions of England in the Olden Time in picturesque and accurate detail. They were peopled with jolly figures in ruffs and farthingales, who personified a specific "Merry England" that was not Catholic (always an issue with the Gothic style), yet full of lively detail, in a golden pre-industrial land of Cockaigne. In popular culture, the adjective Dickensian is sometimes used in reference to this view, but Charles Dickens's view of the rural past evoked nostalgia, not fantasy. Mr. Pickwick's world was that of the 1820s and 1830s, of the stagecoach before the advent of the railways. The pseudo Old English carol "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" first appeared in 1833, in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered and apparently improvised by William B. Sandys; after its brief appearance in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (1843), it quickly developed its reputation for being 16th century or earlier. Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster, London: Gothic details provided by A.W.N. Pugin The Gothic revival was a European architectural movement with origins in mid-18th century England. ... South transept of Tournai Cathedral, Belgium, 12th century. ... Salisbury Cathedral, built c. ... Anthony Salvins Harlaxton Manor, 1837 â€“ 1855, defines the Jacobethan taste. ... Dickens redirects here. ... Look up nostalgia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known as The Pickwick Papers, is the first novel by Charles Dickens. ... Stagecoach in Switzerland A stagecoach is a type of four-wheeled enclosed passenger and/or mail coach, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, widely used before the introduction of railway transport. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen is a traditional Christmas hymn and one of the oldest Christmas carols. ... William B. Sandys (1792 â€“ February 18, 1874) (pronounced Sands), an English solicitor and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, is remembered now for his publication Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (London, Richard Beckley, 1833), a collection of seasonal carols that Sandys gathered and also apparently improvised. ... For other uses, see A Christmas Carol (disambiguation). ...

In a form adapted to political conservatism, the vision of "Merry England" extends to embrace a few urban artisans and other cosmopolitans; a flexible and humane clergy; an interested and altruistic squirearchy, aristocracy and royalty. Solidity and good cheer would be the values of yeoman farmers, whatever the foibles of those higher in the hierarchy. The Tory Young England set perhaps best reflected the vision of "Merry England" on the political stage. Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... For the ethical doctrine, see Altruism (ethics). ... For other uses, see Squire (disambiguation). ... Aristocrat redirects here. ... This article is about the monarchy-related concept. ... Yeoman is an antiquated term for farmers, tradesmen and other members of the early English middle class. ... Oh! the vests of Young England are perfectly white, And theyre cut very neatly and sit very tight, And they serve to distinguish our Young Englishmen From the juvenile MANNERS to CONINGSBY BEN. (Punch, 28 December, 1844) The Victorian era political group Young England was born on the playing...

The idea of Merry England became associated on one side with the Anglo-Catholics and Catholicism, as a version of life's generosity; for example Wilfrid Meynell entitled one of his magazines Merrie England. The pastoral aspects of William Blake, a Londoner and an actual craftsman, lack the same mellow quality. G. K. Chesterton in part adapted it to urban conditions. William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement and other left-inclined improvers (whom Sir Hugh Casson called "the herbivores") were also (partly) believers. Walter Crane's "Garland for May Day 1895" (illustration, left) is lettered "Merrie England" together with progressive slogans ("Shorten Working Day & Lengthen Life", "The Land for the People", "No Child Toilers") with high-minded socialism ("Production for Use Not for Profit"). For a time, the Merry England vision was a common reference point for rhetorical Tories and utopian socialists, offering similar alternatives to an industrialising society, with its large-scale movement off the land to jerry-built cities and gross social inequality. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Walter Crane (August 15, 1845 - March 14, 1915) was a significant English artist. ... ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholicâ€”from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1]â€”is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or... Alice Meynell (September 22, 1847 _ November 27, 1922) was an English writer and suffragist, now remembered mainly as a poet. ... For other persons named William Blake, see William Blake (disambiguation). ... A Londoner is someone who inhabits or originates from London. ... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874â€“June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ... This page is about William Morris, the writer, designer and socialist. ... Artichoke wallpaper, by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. ... Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect, interior designer, artist, and influential writer and broadcaster on 20th century design. ... Walter Crane (August 15, 1845 - March 14, 1915) was a significant English artist. ... The term Tory derives from the Tory Party, the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Social inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of material wealth in a society. ...

Merry England did not really "decline" in the way that Storm Jameson said it did in her book The Decline of Merry England (1930). which has the significant subtitle an essay on Puritanism in England. Margaret Storm Jameson (1891–1986) was an English writer, known for her 45 novels, and criticism. ...

Deep England

The term "Deep England" is often used by those who dislike this vision, or the use to which it is put. In doing so, they identify themselves as political opponents of the Merrie England viewpoint and its supporters. In short, it is supposed or asserted that Deep England stands for what English cultural conservatives would wish to conserve. Image File history File links Question_book-new. ... A national cultural conservatism is a strand of conservative thought that argues for the preservation of a nations domestic culture, usually in the face of external forces. ...

The term, which alludes to la France profonde, has been attributed to both Patrick Wright and Angus Calder, opponents of this world-view. In their opinion, it glosses over the simple historical facts that undermine it: the bucolic vista of perceived loveliness was fundamentally one of widespread rural poverty, in which lives were brutal and short. La France profonde (the Deep France) is a phrase used in French political and social commentary to mean rural, small-town France, as opposed to Paris and other large cities. ... Patrick Wright is a British academic, broadcaster and writer in the fields of cultural studies and cultural history. ... Angus Calder is an academic writer, historian, and literary editor with a background in English literature, politics and cultural studies. ...

Those who make use of the vision are frequently regarded by their critics as having a cultural and racial agenda which is exclusive rather than inclusive. On another level, the concept of Deep England is often closely associated with an explicit opposition to modernism and industrialisation. It has served a particular political purpose in the hands of certain political organisations, especially those of a retrospective inclination, espousing a yearning for a legendary golden age. There was a ruralist movement in England before World War II, typified by the writer H. J. Massingham. For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ... An industrial factory located in Ilmenau, Germany around 1860 Industrialisation is social and economic change where a human group is made into a societly inquireing a lot of businesses. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Harold John Massingham (1888 â€“1952) was a prolific British writer on matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. ...

Major artists whose work has contributed to, or influenced, a more general view of Deep England include: the writer Thomas Hardy, the painter John Constable, the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth and Gustav Holst, and the poets A.E. Housman, Rupert Brooke and Sir John Betjeman. However many of these figures have been linked to the concept by others, and have themselves denied any intention to invoke the idea. Indeed closer examination of many of these artists' works actually destroy the story. Thomas Hardy's use of the landscape as protagonist is perhaps the strongest example of this. (see also below). Thomas Hardy redirects here. ... A self portrait by John Constable John Constable (11 June 1776 â€“ 31 March 1837) was an English Romantic painter. ... A statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams in Dorking. ... George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (July 12, 1885 - August 5, 1916) was a British composer best known for his settings of A. E. Housmans poems. ... Gustav Holst Gustav Holst (September 21, 1874, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - May 25, 1934, London) [1] [2] was an English composer and was a music teacher for over 20 years. ... Alfred Edward Housman (March 26, 1859 _ April 30, 1936) was an English poet and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. ... A statue of Rupert Brooke in Rugby Rupert Chawner Brooke (August 3, 1887 â€“ April 23, 1915) was an English poet known for his idealistic War Sonnets written during the First World War (especially The Soldier), as well as for his poetry written outside of war, especially The Old Vicarage, Grantchester... Sir John Betjeman (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was a British poet and writer on architecture. ... A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ...

Examples of this conservative or village green viewpoint include the editorial line sometimes adopted by the British Daily Mail newspaper and the ideological outlook of magazines such as This England. A similar perspective was ascribed to the Conservative Party under John Major, partly because of a passage in a 1993 speech by Major on European integration, but Major has always insisted that the passage, which quoted George Orwell, has been misinterpreted. The radio soap opera The Archers presents a more dialectical picture of actual life in a small rural village. The village green in Comberton in Cambridgeshire, UK, with a pond, a village sign and a bench to enjoy the view For the community in New York, see Village Green, New York. ... The Daily Mail is a British newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. ... A cover of â€œThis Englandâ€ This England is a quarterly magazine, published in spring, summer, autumn and winter, for all those who love Englands green and pleasant land, it appeals above all to a nostalgic, and largely expatriate, readership, concentrating on the values and customs of England, especially rural... The Conservative Party, officially though less commonly known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... For other persons named John Major, see John Major (disambiguation). ... George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] â€“ 21 January 1950) who was an English writer and journalist well-noted as a novelist, critic, and commentator on politics and culture. ... The first TIME magazine cover devoted to soap operas, dated January 12, 1976. ... The Archers is a British radio soap opera broadcast on the BBCs main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. ...

Little England and propaganda

In Angus Calder's re-examination of the ideological constructs surrounding Little England during World War II in The Myth of the Blitz, he puts forward the view that the story of Deep England was central to wartime propaganda operations within the United Kingdom, and then, as now, served a clearly defined political and cultural purpose in the hands of various interested agencies. Little Englander is a term dating from the time of the Boer War (1899 - 1901). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses, see Propaganda (disambiguation). ...

Calder cites the writer and broadcaster J.B. Priestley whom he considered to be a proponent of the Deep England world-view. Priestley's wartime BBC radio "chats" described the beauty of the English natural environment, this at a time when rationing was at its height, and the population of London was sheltering from the Blitz in its Underground stations. In reference to one of Priestley's bucolic broadcasts, Calder made the following point: John Boynton Priestley (September 13, 1894, Bradford, England - August 14, 1984, Stratford-upon-Avon) was a British writer and broadcaster. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... â€¹ The template below (Citations missing) is being considered for deletion. ... The London Underground is a rapid transit system that serves a large part of Greater London and some neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. ...

However, in Journey Through England, Priestley identified himself as a Little Englander because he despised imperialism and the effect that the capitalist industrial revolution had on the people and environment. Little Englander is a term dating from the time of the Second Boer War (1899â€“1901). ...

Part of the imagery of the 1940 patriotic song There'll Always Be an England seems to be derived from the same source: Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Therell always be an England is an english patriotic song, popular in World War II, composed and written by Ross Parker & Harry Par-Davies in 1939. ...

The continuation evokes, however, the opposite image of the modern industrialised society:

The song seems therefore to offer a synthesis and combine the two Englands, the archaic bucolic one and the modern industrialised one, in the focus of patriotic loyalty and veneration. Synthesis (from the ancient Greek ÏƒÏÎ½ (with) and Î¸ÎµÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ (placing), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation. ...

Literature and the arts

The transition from a literary locus of Merry England to a more obviously political one cannot be placed before 1945, as the cited example of J. B. Priestley shows. Writers and artists described as having a Merry England viewpoint range from the radical visionary poet William Blake to the evangelical Christian Arthur Mee. The Rudyard Kipling of Puck of Pook's Hill is certainly one; when he wrote it, he was in transition towards his later, very conservative stance. Within art, the fabled long-lost merrie England was also a recurring theme in the Victorian-era paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The 1890 News from Nowhere by William Morris portrays a future England that has reverted to a rural idyll following a socialist revolution. Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... For other persons named William Blake, see William Blake (disambiguation). ... Arthur Mee (1875 - 1943) was a British writer, journalist and educator. ... This article is about the British author. ... Puck of Pooks Hill is a book published in 1906 by Rudyard Kipling[1], containing a series of short stories set in different periods of history. ... Persephone, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... News from Nowhere is a classic work of utopian fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. ... This page is about William Morris, the writer, designer and socialist. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...

Reference points might be taken as children's writer Beatrix Potter, John Betjeman (more interested in Victoriana), and the fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien, whose hobbit characters' culture in The Shire embodied many aspects of the Merry England point of view. Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 â€“ 22 December 1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, best known for her childrens books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. ... A collection of Betjemans poetry, published by John Murray in January 2006 Sir John Betjeman CBE (28 August 1906 â€“ 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Whos Who as a poet and hack. He was born to a middle-class family... Victoriana refers to items or material from the Victorian period (1833-1901), especially that particularly evocative of the design style and outlook of the time. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Tolkien redirects here. ... For other uses, see Hobbit (disambiguation). ... The fields of the Shire in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. ...

In his essay "Epic Pooh", Michael Moorcock opined: Epic Pooh is an article written by an American Science Fiction writer called Michael Moorcock. ... Michael John Moorcock (born December 18, 1939, in London, England) is a prolific English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels. ...

Here the shift has taken place: Tolkien was profoundly conservative with respect to cultural traditions, as Moorcock is quite aware, but not at all an imperialist. He set an area based upon the West Midlands region within a Middle-earth, but made it apparent that its perimeter was maintained by external allies. This article is about the English county. ... A shire is an administrative area of Great Britain and Australia. ... The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the Midlands. ... A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ...

The Pyrates, the 1983 spoof historical novel by George MacDonald Fraser, sets its scene with a page-long sentence composed entirely of (immediately demolished) Merry England tropes: The Pyrates is a comedic novel by George MacDonald Fraser, published in 1983. ... For the Jimi Hendrix song, see 1983. ... George MacDonald Fraser, OBE (born 2 April 1926 in Carlisle) is a British author of both historical novels and non-fiction books. ... In linguistics, trope is a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i. ...

The novel England, England by Julian Barnes describes an imaginary, though plausible, set of circumstances that cause modern England to return to the state of Deep England. The author's views are not made explicit, but the characters who choose to remain in the changed nation are treated more sympathetically than those who leave. Spoiler warning: On the one hand, the novel is the fictional biography of Martha Cochrane, a clever and ambitious Englishwoman with a rural lower middle-class background who, after graduating from university, attempts to climb the ladder of success within corporate Britain. ... Barnes as Francophile and Francophone in Bernard Pivots Double je (France 2, March 2005) Julian Patrick Barnes (born January 19, 1946 in Leicester) is a contemporary English writer whose novels and short stories have been seen as examples of postmodernism in literature. ...

In Kingsley Amis's novel Lucky Jim, Professor Welch and his friends are devotees of the Merry England legend, and Jim's "Merrie England" lecture somehow turns into a debunking of the whole concept (a position almost certainly reflecting that of Amis). Sir Kingsley William Amis (April 16, 1922 â€“ October 22, 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. ... Christine (Sharon Acker) and Jim (Ian Carmichael) in a cab Lucky Jim is a comic novel written by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954. ...

A few popular music artists have used elements of the Merry England story as recurring themes; Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull in particular has often alluded to an anti-modern, pre-industrial, agrarian vision of England in his songs (the band's namesake was himself an agrarian, the inventor of the seed drill). At the opposite end is The Kinks' The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, which is equal parts a satire of sentimentalism and homage to what was seen as a passing England; as well as certain elements of Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). This article is about the lead singer of Jethro Tull. ... For the 18th-century agriculturist after whom the band was named, see Jethro Tull (agriculturist). ... The Kinks were an English rock group formed in 1963 by lead singer-songwriter Ray Davies, his brother, lead guitarist and vocalist Dave Davies, and bassist Pete Quaife. ... The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is a pop-rock album released by the English music group The Kinks on November 22, 1968. ... </gallery> </gallery> </gallery> </gallery> </gallery> </gallery> </gallery> </gallery>neygoround, Part One]] (1970) Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is a concept album by English rock band The Kinks, released in late 1969. ...

Merrie England is a comic opera by Edward German. Merrie England is a comic opera in two acts by Edward German to an English libretto by Basil Hood. ... Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending. ... Sir Edward German (17 February 1862 - 11 November 1936) was a musician and composer. ...

Contents

Origins and themes

Deep England

Little England and propaganda

Literature and the arts

Further reading

See also

Notes

External links