Merry England

The term Merry England, Deep England or (more jocularly) Merrie England refers tosemi-mythological, idyllic,pastoral waylife thatlucky inhabitantsEngland allegedly enjoyed at some poorly-defined point betweenMiddle Ages andcompletion ofIndustrial Revolution. It'sutopian vision ofrevisited England, "the thatched cottage,country inn,cuptea,Sunday roast", whichbothproduct ofimaginationan ideological construct.

The term Deep Englandoften used by those who dislike this vision, orusewhich itput. In doing so,identify themselves as political opponents ofDeep England viewpointits supporters. The usethis term has been attributedboth Patrick WrightAngus Calder, bothwhomopponentsthis world-view. In their opinion, this particular world view glosses oversimple historical facts that undermine it:bucolic vistaperceived loveliness was fundamentally onewidespread rural povertywhich lives were brutalshort.

Those who make use ofvisionfrequently regarded by their critics as havingculturalracial agenda whichexclusive rather than inclusive. On another level,conceptDeep Englandoften closely associatedan explicit oppositionmodernism,industrialisation. It servesparticular political purpose inhandssome political organisations, especially those ofretrospective inclination, espousingyearning formythical forgotten golden age. Examplesthis conservative viewpoint includeUK Conservative party under John Major, andBritish Daily Mail newspaper.

The concept ofMerry England originated inMiddle Ages, whenterm more-or-less describedstatelife that most people attime wished or hopedledpossibly at times did lead. Recall as Kingsley Amis's hero said innovel Lucky Jim that this was more oftenhope thanrealityan England often experiencing periodic crop-failure,pandemic outbreak,dynastic struggle involving war, rape,pillageterrible poverty. Merry England normally didn't existyou either if you werememberone oflowest levels ofclassserfs.

The great peasant revolts led by such figures as Wat Tyler Jack Straw also invokedidea which even then was linkedan impossibly utopian vision ofmore-or-less levelled-out societymost people living as happy contented peasants. The vision extendsallowingfew artisansother cosmopolitanslivetowns, topliantgenuinely humane clergy andan interestedaltruistic aristocracyroyalty who would still be allowed their eccentricities asaspub stayed open,feasts were regularly celebrated.

At various times sinceMiddle Ages, authors, propagandists, romanticists, poetsothers have revivedterminvoke whatever their particular utopian visionEngland happenedbe. Normallywas associated withradical conservative view which soughtbalance whatever depredations were then currently being practised bylatest grouprise intoelite withvision ofsociety where things lived up tobucolic utopian vision outlined above. G. K. Chestertonin his own way William Cobbettwhen he turnedconservatism William Coleridge all subscribedsome extent to"Merry England" view. William Morris andArtsCrafts movementother left-inclined improvers (whom Sir Hugh Casson called "the herbivores") were also partly true believers. Present-day true believersdominated bysortpeople who subscribemagazines like This England.

So Merry England did not really "decline" inway that Storm Jameson saiddidhis book The DeclineMerry England. Merry England, even inMiddle Ages, was always more ofstatemind. Merry England as statemind - if propounded by people like Cobbett or Chesterton - does have some validity. The propounders ofideaMerry Englandthose responding toidea all needbe great-minded enough know thatidea reallybest used as an encouragementachieve better new ideasnew approachesworking out howEnglish should live. Merry Englandat its worst as an idea associatedunobtainable utopias or withpast that was only ever partly existent.

In Angus Calder's re-examination ofideological constructs surrounding Little England during World War IIThe Myth ofBlitz, he puts forwardview thatmythDeep England was centralwartime propaganda operations withinUnited Kingdom,then, as now, servedclearly defined politicalcultural purpose inhandsvarious interested agencies.

Calder citeswriterbroadcaster J.B. Priestley whom he consideredbeproponent ofDeep England world-view. Priestley's wartime BBC radio "chats" describedbeauty ofEnglish natural environment, this attime when rationing was at its height, andpopulationLondon was sleepingsubway stations. In referenceonePriestley's bucolic broadcasts, Calder madefollowing point:

Priestley,socialist, gives this cottage no occupant, nor does he wonder aboutsize ofoccupant's wage, nor ask ifcottage has internal sanitationrunning water. His countryside only exists as spectacle, fordelectationpeoplemotor cars. [..]" (Angus Calder, The Myth ofBlitz, London 1991)

Writersartists described as havingDeep England viewpoint range from (atlighter end ofpolitical spectrum)radical visionary poet William Blake,deeply conservative writers such as Rudyard Kipling andevangelical Christian Arthur Mee, via such middle-points as children's writer Beatrix Potter,poet John Betjeman, andfantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien, whose hobbit characters' culture embodied many aspects ofDeep England pointview. In popular culture,adjective Dickensiansometimes usedreferencethis view, but Dickens' works hardly describedfantasy world.

In his essay "Epic Pooh", Michael Moorcock wrote:

"The little hillswoodsthat Surrey ofmind,Shire,'safe', butwild landscapes everywhere beyondShire'dangerous'. Experiencelife itselfdangerous. The Lord ofRings ispernicious confirmation ofvalues ofdeclining nation withmorally bankrupt class whose cowardly self-protectionprimarily responsible forproblems England answered withruthless logicThatcherism. Humanity was deridedmarginalised. Sentimentality becameacceptable subsitute. So few people seembe abletelldifference."

The novel England, England by Julian Barnes describes an imaginary, though plausible, setcircumstances that cause modern Englandreturn tostateDeep England. The author's viewsnot made explicit, butcharacters who chooseremain inchanged nationtreated more sympathetically than those who leave.

Merry Englandalsolight opera by Edward German.

Tablecontents

1 Further reading
2 See also
3 External links

External links

ImagesEngland 2: "Deep England andCountryside"
"Epic Pooh" by Michael Moorcock,critiquethis world-viewfantasy fiction