To the Study of Higher Education and English Honours
RELATED INTRODUCTION BRIEFLY AND THE THEMATIC MEANING TO ONLY UNDERSTAND THE POEM--‘Caedmon’s hymn’
ORIENTATIONS
BRITAIN, ENGLAND AND ENGLISH
“The cliffs of England stand
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.”
Matthew Arnold, ‘Dover Beach’ (c.1851)
The cliffs at Dover were often the first of Britain seen by early incomers and have become a familiar symbol of England, and of the fact that England is on an island. These cliffs are part of what the Romans, perhaps from as early as the 2nd century, had called the Saxon Shore: the south-eastern shores of Britain often raided by Saxons. The Romans left Britain, after four centuries of occupation, early in the 5th century. Later in that century the Angels and Saxons took over the lion’s share of the island of Britain. By 700, they had occupied the parts of Great Britain which the Romans had made part of their empire. This part later became known as Engla-land, the land of the Angels, and its language was to become English.
It is not always recognized especially outside Britain and England are not the same thing. Thus, Shakespeare’s King Lear ends by the cliff and beach at Dover, but Lear was king not of England but of Britain, in that legendary period of its history when it was pre-Christian and pre-English. The English Romantic poet William Blake was thinking of the legendary origins of his country when he asked in his ‘Jerusalem’--
“And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountain’s green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?”
William Blake here recalls the ancient legend that Jesus came with Joseph of Arimathea to Glastonbury, in Somerset. One answer to his wondering question would be: ‘No, on Britain’s.’
“The fields of Ireland are rich and green with learners, and with numerous readers, grazing there like flocks, even as the pivots of the poles are brilliant with the starry quivering of the shining constellations. Yet, Britain, placed, if you like, almost at
ORIENTATIONS
BRITAIN, ENGLAND AND ENGLISH
“The cliffs of England stand
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.”
Matthew Arnold, ‘Dover Beach’ (c.1851)
The cliffs at Dover were often the first of Britain seen by early incomers and have become a familiar symbol of England, and of the fact that England is on an island. These cliffs are part of what the Romans, perhaps from as early as the 2nd century, had called the Saxon Shore: the south-eastern shores of Britain often raided by Saxons. The Romans left Britain, after four centuries of occupation, early in the 5th century. Later in that century the Angels and Saxons took over the lion’s share of the island of Britain. By 700, they had occupied the parts of Great Britain which the Romans had made part of their empire. This part later became known as Engla-land, the land of the Angels, and its language was to become English.
It is not always recognized especially outside Britain and England are not the same thing. Thus, Shakespeare’s King Lear ends by the cliff and beach at Dover, but Lear was king not of England but of Britain, in that legendary period of its history when it was pre-Christian and pre-English. The English Romantic poet William Blake was thinking of the legendary origins of his country when he asked in his ‘Jerusalem’--
“And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountain’s green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?”
William Blake here recalls the ancient legend that Jesus came with Joseph of Arimathea to Glastonbury, in Somerset. One answer to his wondering question would be: ‘No, on Britain’s.’
“The fields of Ireland are rich and green with learners, and with numerous readers, grazing there like flocks, even as the pivots of the poles are brilliant with the starry quivering of the shining constellations. Yet, Britain, placed, if you like, almost at