Video: 'Satanic mills' in two 'green and pleasant' lands
Arlington Mills, Lawrence, Mass., in 1907
A view of the Berkshires from near North Adams, Mass.
— Photo by jbcurio
Below is a local version of the weird, haunting English poem by William Blake called “Jerusalem,’’ written about 1804. It has long been best known as the hymn of the same name, with music written by Sir Hubert Parry, in 1916. (Remember the movie Chariots of Fire?)
Timmy May, of Newport, R.I., came up with the idea of inserting "New" before “England’’ in the three places where “England” appears in the original Blake poem.
The Industrial Revolution brought many, many “dark satanic mills,’’ first to England and then to its offspring.
Mr. May is on the left in the video below. The other musicians are Jamie Lawton, on violin, and Gregory Jonic, on uilleann pipes.