We took actor Matt Ray Brown to London to film him reading these in Blake's flat in South Molton Street. Jerusalem And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon Englands mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands 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 Englands green & pleasant Land.
Finding Blake team member Linda Richardson says of this poem: “The scientific, rational and analytical mind will never be able to understand the full meaning of William Blake’s work and art, because he is not speaking that language. We might agree that his work is imaginative, but he is a mystic and a prophet, so the purpose of his work is not to impart information, but to pull us deeply into his imaginative world and more importantly than that, we have to let his words imagine us.”
Notes
Matt Ray Brown reads eight Blake poems for Finding Blake and appeared in the original film for our Crowdfunder video. You can find all Finding Blake videos, as they are posted, on the Finding Blake Films at a Glance page in our Blakean Archive section. You can explore Matt’s work as an actor, including his showreel at Mandy.com, ‘the world’s largest creative community of actors, film and TV crew, theatre professionals, child actors, voiceover artists, dancers, singers, musicians, models and extras.’