England? Whose England?
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ENGLAND MY ENGLAND
Somebody sent me this as an e-mail, entitled ‘England My England’. It is one of these whining little poems from a whining Little Englander; the type of person who feels that the whole world owes him something and usually can be found complaining about Foreigners who have taken over his country, his home, his job, his women… the usual things that spring from the mouths of these people, not only in the United Kingdom, but all over the world, I should imagine.
Try a Google search with the simple words: England My England’, and you will be sure to find it.
I would have copied it here (In fact, I did), but the Moderators of HubPages in their infinite wisdom, decided that I was infringing the rules of usage, and so all I can do is direct you to the aforesaid “poem” and let you read it yourself.
Just in case time is very precious to you.
In case time is too precious, and you feel you do not have enough of that commodity, I, out of the goodness of my heart (and because the milk of human kindness sloshes around in there in remarkable quantities) have decided to facilitate your understanding of the Whining Little Englander (mentioned above) and according to my limited talents, have paraphrased ‘England My England’ into a vaguely palatable form.
A nice picture to look at because this is a long ramble.
Please note: there are six (6) verses to the turgid little offering…. er…”Poem”, so I will address it, verse by verse.
First Verse:
The “Poet” moans that the days of England are being brought to an end, and that, although the Welsh, the Irish and the Scots are permitted to have a political and (perhaps) an ethnic identity; the English are not permitted to.
Second Verse:
A list is now presented; which includes the French, the Germans, the Norwegians, the Swedes, and the Dutch, who are “permitted” to refer to themselves as such, but that the English are not allowed to say that they are English “ever again”.
Third Verse:
Then he or she puts forward the idea that at Broadcasting House, the home of the BBC (British Broadcasting Commission) and also in the European Parliament, seated in Brussels, the use of the word “English” is taboo.
Going on from there, he or she maintains that schools are forbidden to teach children about English History. As an ex teacher, I strongly challenge this statement.
Fourth Verse:
Now the “poet” rambles on, mendaciously, to state that the great "English" poets, Shakespeare, Milton and Shaw are neglected in schools, and that the historical battles of Agincourt, Hastings, Arnhem and Mons in which England lost large numbers of brave soldiers are ignored in History lessons.
The battle of Hastings was fought between the Norman William and the Saxon Harold and their opposing armies. England did not exist at that time. Agincourt was between the French and Scots on one side and the English and Welsh on the other.
Mons and Arnhem were battles against the Germans by the whole of the United Kingdom and the British Empire… not just the English.
Fifth Verse:
The reasoning and logic becomes even more erroneous. The claim is made that England is not in Europe… because Europe is “miles away”. England is a European country off the coast of Continental Europe, our nearest neighbour being France, on the other side of the English Channel, or as the French would say, “La Manche”, just twenty-one miles away (thirty-four kilometres)
Sixth Verse:
This is where it gets very, very muddled. The “poet” says that we should tell the Government of the United Kingdom (and the European Parliament in Brussels, for some reason) that we are proud of the Red White and Blue, and that we should fly the Flag of Saint George and the Union Jack.
The Union Jack is the flag that was created by joining the Crosses of Saint George and Saint Andrew (England and Scotland) so this is not an English flag. The Cross of Saint George is Red cross on a White ground… no blue there!
The present Union Jack also incorporates the Cross of Saint Patrick.
Now this is my bit.
Having read the last bit of drivel, I decided to write my bit of drivel in reply.
This is my bit of awful doggerel; as promised. It’s much longer (Sorry!), but I hope you like it a bit more than the other one.
England? Whose England?
(In response to the above)
Why say “Goodbye, England”? Where have you been?
Your old days are numbered. You are a Has Been.
You have been (or thought you were) top of the lot;
Top of Wales, Ireland, Scotland… but that you were not.
You thought that when Britain interfered in the world
And in strange foreign lands the flag was unfurled
That the Cross of Saint George was the only one there.
Well Bollocks! That cross wasn’t even half of a pair
There was Saint Andrew’s flag and Saint Patrick’s as well
And the Welsh; the Red Dragon. Well that went to hell.
It’s not England, my friend, which should go on forever
There are three other parts, equally or more clever.
Don’t say you’re English? Well yes, I agree:
Unless you mean English; there’s a difference, you see.
When the English say English, they frequently claim
Things that are British, and that’s not quite the same.
And why do you think that Auntie BBC
Has dropped the word English by some strange decree?
I’ve heard England or English being bandied about
In discussion of football thugs and lager louts
In school, no restrictions on what there is taught
Whether agrarian reform, or old battles fought
Except, now, you’ll find in historical lists
That other nations matter; not only England exists.
Oh! Listen, poor soul, who penned this sad verse.
Your poetry was turgid, but your reasoning worse;
Extolling England’s great writers, e.g. George Bernard Shaw
My friend, Shaw was Irish, I suggest you withdraw!
And Statesmen and Generals, why didn’t you say
How our “Great English Soldiers” all carried the day:
Perhaps Wellington, the Iron Duke, General and P.M.
But he was from Ireland… and there are far more of them
Disraeli was not from those Golden Few:
Neither English, Scots, Welsh nor Irish… but a Jew.
And of our greatest statesmen, recall, if you can;
Our Winston Churchill’s mother was American.
Britain’s in Europe, so don’t be deluded
It’s a group of islands off its coast; not secluded
In Glorious Isolation as you so allege;
It clings to Continental Europe… just on the edge!
Even our Royals, they that rule and have ruled you,
Weren’t one tiny bit English, not one bit, you poor fool, you.
The Tudors were Welsh; their predecessors Normans
The Stuarts were Scots; then came Dutchmen and Germans.
So yes, I agree, tell the powers that be
That you’re proud of your country; and you’re glad to be free.
But with privilege goes responsibility to all souls, they say;
And labels and names often get in the way.
So forget all this carping and putting the blame
On others because you feel that a name
Has been taken away from you. It’s not a disgrace.
Just face it…We’re a very small part of the whole Human Race.
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LOL:
"?????" is Cyrillic - HupPages moderated my language. I feel like an outlaw!
That is so silly. To change... err... moderate a word. You wicked, wicked woman, Svetlana.
Committing such a heinous crime as writing a word in Cyrillic... and you a Latter Day Saint.
To the stake, woman.
Oops! I almost forgo: Thank you for stopping by and reading my almost interminable scribbling
All Saints come out on November 1st. Before they hide - it is my day -- I came one day prior - you know - October 31st. You are not that far from the truth.
I should have studied linguistics. Only forty years and I notice that the word another (drug-oi) and the word friend (drug) have the same root. "U" pronounced as "ou" or "u" in the word "put".
Where did you take the picture of the Georgi Pobedonosets? Georgi The Victory Bringer? What can be more Russian? Or is it from Byzantine?
Loved your reply, Ian - wonderful read!! Yes, we are a very small part of a wider world. However, we do see more of the kind of sentiment expressed in the original. I think a lot of folks are yet to come to terms with the shifting of world power eastwards, hence the general tendency to whine, cry, complain, etc. The amount of resentment one finds in these sort of people is truly amazing. Excellent piece of work, as always, Ian - well done :)
Thank you again, Shil. I can always rely on you to dive in and out.
One of my rarer moments of sincerity... No,I was actually being sincere. I know that these people feel as if they have their backs to the wall, but you've nailed it perfectly in your comment. Thank you.
My George, the George who illuminates my deeply intense poem (Ha!)?
I delved deep into Byzantium abd brought him out into the daylight, along with his horse, Kevin, and his dragon, Denzil; to prance and gambol and fight...
Sorry, Svetlana, I tell a lie. I just did a Google search and chose the first image of a "George and Dragon" that looked sufficiently reactionary.
Ian, your George was a Roman. He lived in Rome in III century. All roads lead to Rome, as we know. Or maybe out of it. Should be the same anyway, there are always two ways. Speaking of duality and polarity.
"The Cult of Saint George" came to Russia in X - XI centuries (I guess on the wings of Christianity) and he was especially popular with the ruling elite and military. "Whose Russia?" As we know Russian elite was predominantly Scandinavian.
Remember your trip to Ukraine? Kiev? I hope you know that Kiev was the heart of Russia. "The Kiev's Russia". "Whose Kiev?" "Whose Russia?"
It was so interesting to read your post and to see Saint George with the Russian name on it (George is, of course, a Greek name meaning "farmer").
Not only now I know that England and Russia have the same patron, I also know that the relationship between the words "saint - light - shine"
Because literally, if I would not modify the first word (substitute "e", remove "i", add "a"), just take it as it is written, it reads (in Russian) - Shine! George
Or as you said - illuminate!
I have to return to Canada. Whose Canada? I was writing a hub on "Canadian Manifesto. Fit it or F. O." I am not creative, I found it on the internet, of course.
I have to go out and face harsh Canadian March Day - ice, snow and -20.
Cheers,
I knew that George was a Roman. We had a headmaster whose subjects for morning assembly were rather limited. I don't know how many times I heard the story of George, a soldier in the Emperor's vicinity, politically and as a friend, who, being a Christian, refused to throw a handful of incense on a brazier when he attended court functions at which the Emperor was in attendance.
His enemies brought his act (or lack of it) to the attention of the (I'm beginning to yawn already...) Emperor who tried to persuade him to just (Yawn) throw on a little. George refused and he was taken out and beheaded and then, eventually he was made into a Saint (Zzzz! Zzzz!).
The end!
Zzzzzz!
Twilight, I don't normally just leave links, but I am compelled to do so because if you look at it, you will see that a country that is broke is now the seat of European power. It is one thing to have peace through European union. It is quite another thing to use the union to take advantage of the people with ponzi, bad, predatory loans. And that is exactly what the central banks of the western world have done, and sovereignty of the nations is needed to ward off this financial attack. Look at poor Ireland, licking the boots of the EU. http://hubpages.com/hub/Now-We-Know-Why-Belgium-Ne
The poetry, I may add, is remarkable.
Thank you, my friend. I must admit, however, that things financial pass over my head with remarkable speed. I do know that Mervin King and one or two highly respectable economists are already warning that the banks are still in danger of pulling their nasty selfish tricks, and that little is being done by our government in the UK, or has been.
When I hear that Barclay's chief executive has awarded himself an £8,000,000 bonus, and that I personally lost over £16,000 in just one account and my Halifax bank shares were wiped out at a stroke, it makes me shudder at what they have planned next.
Regardless, that was not the burden of my hub; that deals with the insular Little England whiners who are not prepared to realise that England is not Britain, and the English should be prepared to acknowledge that the United Kingdom is one glorious multi ethnic group and not White Anglo Saxons.
I agree with your analysis. However, when we see Brussels calling the shots I hope you would look at the last two videos at the link I gave you, because these are English guys standing up for their people against these extorting banksters.
This is going to require some deep study by this Texan. I'll be back!
Nellie, I am sure you have the same sort of people standing around and moaning, going on and on, where you are. Didn't the Spanish have some sort of finger in your collective pies (Texan pies, that is) and grumbled about groups of Germans and Poles and English speaking people coming and fiddling around... Of course, that was after groups of Ethnic Americans had stood around complaining that they had heard (or seen via the latest technology of smoke signals) that the Pilgrim Fathers had arrived with the most awful West Country accents and were going to I don’t know. What were they going to do?
Of course. Texas has been literally under 6 different flags, including a Republic of Texas flag. They're:
Spain (1519-1685; 1690-1821)?France (1685-1690)?Mexico (1821-1836)?Republic of Texas (1836-1845)?Confederate States of America (1861-1865)?United States of America (1845-1861;1865-)
It went in and out of and back into the USA in1865, with the understanding that it could peaceably secede and become an independent Republic of Texas again at any time in the future. That choice still exists and sometimes the notion comes up! (It's a rather rawhide place in many quarters.) But few grumbles about the influx of specific riffraff with an exception of DamnYankees (northerners). This entire country is virtually populated by other nationalities, since everyone here comes from immigrants except the ethnic Americans. You're surely right that they must have complained about the Pilgrim Fathers but all the accents they brought were from the East rather than the West. From Plymouth Rock in any direction is West, NorthWest or SouthWest.
OK, that's all I will acknowledge in this academic company. I admit that I'm out of my element. Between feeling like zzzzzzzing myself and awed at so much knowledge, the zzzzzzzing claimed me. In fact I just awoke from a lengthy nap with my laptop perched precariously on my lap and all this history up on the screen hanging just as precariously. Before it happens again, I'll try to gracefully end this and just go-o-o-o-o - - - .
ps - I don't know where those (?)s came from in the list of Texas flags. It was a list, and then suddenly the (?)s appeared where breaks in the lines belonged. I didn't type those in! It happened too late to edit and fix. HP's 5 minutes for editing gets shorter and shorter!
Love the poem (yours, of course) (especially the last verse - profound)and love the comments.
You know you've posted a terrific hub when it generates so much interesting gab. Nice work, twilight.
L.T.
I have to say that I'm not much for poetry but I do know that when you said, "...the usual thing that springs form the mouth of these people.." in the first paragraph, you didn't mean to say that. I found a typo at last. Been trying real hard to find one as you definitely do not commit "so many typographical errors that the Spell Check facility throws up its hands and walks away in despair" as you would have me believe. :)
Well done, my Wandering friend. I told you that I tend to read what I thought I had written. In fact, it wasn't even a typographical error... it was just stupid carelessness on my part.
I shall go to change it as soon as I have finished my therapy session. I will have to lie down in a darkened room, muttering to myself, "The Verb must always follow the Noun".
Thank you again.
Hi, LT. I haven't seen you for a while. I'm liking your latest hub(s)... beautifully "spaced". Your narrative always is.
I hope the Fillmore saga is going well. Does Fillmore only Ride Again only on Kindle, or what? I have not gone that far, in my usual Luddite manner.
Nellie, some years ago i was in North Devon with some North Devonians (only Cornwall is further west), and also an American couple. They were speaking together, and I could immediately hear from whence came the "American accent" with which we are most familiar (and I'm not talking about local accents; Scarlett O'Hara's deep south, or The Bronx), but just the "overall" accent, (Please don't shoot me down in flames here; I've most probably shot myself in the foot, anyway).
Plymouth is in Devon, remember, and not all Devonians speak with an O Arrr accent like Long John Silver... not all Devonians are Pirates either.
Twilight, I appreciate your ability to write not only lovely, mind expanding poetry, but you are a poetic political satirist as well. Your response is divine.
I'm glad people don't expect grammatical perfection from me. They would be sorely disappointed. You have raised the bar on poetry and hub writing.
Namaste.
What a lovely expression: "You have raised the bar on poetry and hub writing." I am flattered and embarrassed... but please keep them coming; I love to hear things like that.
Wow!
I have bandages for your poor shot-up foot, love.
No offense taken here, Ian. American speech is American. Why wouldn't it be? Americans who affect a high-English accent are mostly transplants, actors, &/or phonies. For awhile on here I affected using the English spelling of words like colour & humour, etc. because my English friends made such a point of pointing out the low-brow use of our American spelling and I was OK either way, but my spell check either underlines them in red or just changes them to American spelling. So I say - viva la difference and up with authenticity!! Not a problem unless made into one.
By the way, Texas has a bunch of labels: - American (which includes the trained "announcer" and "speaker" voices), Deep Southern, Southwestern, Mexican-influenced and - just plain Texan. On the eastern side of my state, there is a strong influence from Louisiana with its Creole and Cajun speech. Each of our 5 regions has some individual influences from bordering areas and immigrants there. I'm a little of all of them who happens to be a rarity these days - a native Texan - and born to well-educated Damnyankee parents. Encourages one to become comfortably accustomed to being a unique misfit, having mastery of several different "languages"; and the more languages at one's disposal, the better to matriculate among a variety of people - and still maintain one's integrity. May be one reason why you like me and I like you!
Reasons: We like each other as we ARE. I always admire your graceful writing and great wry humour. (I'm ignoring my spell-checker and changing it back if it insists, - in your honour. :-))
That could be it, in a nutshell.(Your last sentence)
By the way, do you like mnemonics as names?
Try the mnemonic for "in a nutshell".
Good?
And about American or English spelling? If it was good enough for Webster, who's complaining?
Actually, there are some words which fall halfway between American and Englisg spelling... that always confused me.
err Those always confused me.
I'm neutral about mnemonics for names but they can be useful, I guess. I confess I'm no expert in their use, though. How about "Squirrelly Pearly"? (blush - I'm not even sure that are one! hehehe)
Yes, I agree. Webster's OK reigns supreme here too.
BTW, I have the Webster's Unabridged at the ready, thanks to my George. I requested it and got it as our first anniversary gift. He was personally thrilled about it, too, because he'd always wanted one. It has a light on a wall nearby as well as a commodious magnifying glass on a stand next to it, for one's convenience.
In his Navy days on a ship in the South Pacific during WWII, he said that reading material was quite limited, so he just read the dictionary. Clever, huh? It was difficult to trip him up on any words! (Not that I would have tried to!)
Really? I can't feature your being confused much by language, Ian! What words are those, she wonders. . . . ;->
In -> I
a -> a
nutshell -> n
We had a Websters in Perth when I was a lad. It was the largest book we had. About 15" x 12" x 10"
It had everything in it one could imagine, and then some.
Oh boy! I really displayed my ignorance on that subject! But now I know! But I wonder what kind of a thing my Squirrelly Pearly is? Well, maybe it's another kind of mnemonic? Aren't' they supposed to help one remember something, such as a name? I'd never forget Pearl if I knew her and had thought of her as the Squirrelly Pearly!! hehe
Lovely! My Websters is very large too; and it does have the apostrophe in the title, no matter what Lynn Truss might have to say about it! It's Mr. Webster's dictionary, I guess, although there WERE other Websters who followed the family business. hehe.
Mine is not as large as that one you had in Perth, though. It is almost the same size as the lovely Hay Family Bible dated 1886. My Webster's is 9" x 11" x 6". The print is very small. It, too, has everything imaginable in it. Probably in order to be called "Unabridged", all the bases must be covered!
You're fun.
I am not sure of the number, but there was a quiz show (QI) that stated that there were only five place names with apostrophes in the whole of the USA (Martha's Vineyard being one, I seem to remember.
I have just spent a few hours editing this hub... It's not as elegant without the Little Englander "poem" but what it loses in that, it make up for in my vitriol (though hardly noticed).
Yes it was noticed! But don't fret. Most of us readers saw the actual quote before you had to remove it. And it is just as well. You don't want to be noted for vitriol. What is in black and white is so enduring, too. So you can express your positive opinion about it without needing to get into all that.
It really does go on and on and on, doesn't it, Nellie?
I am feeling a lot more positive today, but have just had a phone call from a friend; asking if he (and possibly his wife and daughter) can stay for a few days.
I frankly like my own company, and Babar is coming home from University on Thursday evening so must have peace and quiet to study (and cook for me).
I would also like to go to the cinema on the weekend, but I can't with house guests.
These are the people who want me to join them in their venture in setting up the company to go to the Congo and help screw the populous along with the Belgians and the Chinese. I just don't want to be involved.
I'm too old to be involved in wheeling and dealing.
Bravo, for your poem, I say :) You've got it just right. Here, here!!!
I haven't looked at England, My England, but I will do so when I have a little more time. I hate whiners!
Linda.
Wow, Linda. Thank you for your support. There are a lot of them out there, aren't there?
Indeed there are, many whiners. I have, at times, tried a tack of sympathy and compassionate understanding, but it was no good, I simply could not fathom what the whiners were whining about. They make themselves ill, it's ridiculous.
Loved the poem. I didn't read the one it was in response to though, and I'm pretty ignorant of the England vs. UK stuff.
Great Hub and poem, Twilight Lawns - Little Englanders are one of the reasons why we left the UK and took advantage of the freedom of movement given by the EU.
Although I was born in Northern England, I have no Anglo-Saxon blood - it is a a mixture of Celtic and Norwegian, with a drop of French. I was lucky enough to live in Scotland and Ireland for many years and loved them both. Yet, In the South of England (Oxford), I never felt at home - The 'English' are an alien race to me :D
Thank you Christoph. I don't say that my versifying is any better than the original rant, but I think the original should be read, because it gives an indication of the sort of person I find so distasteful... er... pathetic.
But this isn't a platform for my ideas and ideals, it's just me making fun, as inoffensively as possible.
Sufidreamer, thanks for visiting, and your comments. You, perhaps would find my hub 'Does anybody know what I am?' (or something like that) interesting. I also don't have any Anglo-Saxon blood in me, as you don't.
I like your name, Sufi... interesting.
I am glad that 'England, My England'got you all fired up. It is great to see your creative spark ignited in yet another wonderful poem. I also really studied how the flag is made and now have it committed to memory. Thanks for a fun read! Voted up and awesome.
Thank you toknowinfo. I appreciate your comments. Perhaps if you were to read another hub of mine, 'Does anybody know what I am?', it might give an insight as to "where I'm coming from".
A lot of my hubs are just self-indulgent scribbling, but I'll leave you to decide which are which... if you care to spend the time.
You live in England and do not have any Anglo-Saxon blood. I have mostly Anglo-Saxon blood and my ancestors have been in the US for centuries. Interesting. I did like your little rant. I got chewed out for mentioning the Queen of England. Got told that she was the Queen of the United Kingdom. Doesn't that make her the Queen of England?
Yes, you were right Becky, and by definition, the United Kingdom is England and Scotland by the Act of Union some time... When Elizabeth I died and the Crown passed to James VI of Scotland (James I of England. Then it became Great Britain which is England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. But the south of Ireland became a republic (Eire) and the six counties of the North of Ireland stayed in Great Britain, now being Northern Ireland (Ulster). Of course, there are still the British Isles which includes Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark and the Isle of Man and another six thousand other islands.
You can tell I was a teacher once, can’t you?
I love it when people get all fired up about a subject! I couldn't find the original poem, but to be honest, I didn't try that hard. I can see that it is pretty stupid from what you have written about it...
Your poem was fun and full of information - that's my kind of poetry :) Just kidding. But nevertheless, I can totally relate to your feelings about one's country, as you already know.
I loved the closing, and that is really all the matters, right?
P.S. I loved that conversation between Nellie Anna and yourself, especially the In a Nutshell (IAN) remark :)
Take care, In A Nutshell!
Nemanja
Hello, Nemanja. Glad you came and read and commented. It is so true, isn't it? We are just a spot on the backside of the world. Scratch us, and do we not bleed?
But another reason I am glad you came and read... I just had a look, and My Goodness, what a lot of Typos and stuff.
Ian, typos are there to show that everything written was truly written by a person, and not some kind of robot :)
I love the sentence:"Scratch us, and do we not bleed?" Shakespeare was someone who I read in English when I was in college, but I nevertheless had to look it up just to make sure. Well quoted, Ian!
Ha ha!
And now for the good part. As of today, I have sold three copies of 'The twilight lawns Chronicles'.
What next?
The Booker Prize?
The Nobel Prize for Literature?
I'm certainly going to have a yacht in the Mediterranean or a Villa in Capri.
kallini2010 Level 7 Commenter 14 months ago
It's lovely, Ian. The feeling is universal, let be Russians, let be proud of Russia. All these foreigners...
The most popular Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin was a descendant (in a third? generation) from an Ethiopian brought as a toy to Russia. He began writing in French as all elite schools taught everything (ALL SUBJECTS!) in French. Then he started writing in Russian and influenced the development of the language in the same scope as Shakespeare.
Now Ethiopians say - he is our poet. OK. Fine.
Very lovely,
P.S. The strangest thing - the Saint George overcoming a dragon is a Russian Empire symbol. Look in the left upper corner - the first word is "?????" - change the last letter into "a" - "?????" - that is my short name. In that spelling it means light (without "a"), but it is supposed to be "??????" - Saint.
Now I see the connection - it was never obvious before - the words are related.
Don't worry, I don't think that I am a Saint. LOL
Thank you, Ian, it was a delight,