Actually it is St. George’s day. That prompts me to share a little more of my puzzled reflection on “Englishness”.* It is a great coincidence that I was thinking about this as I was working in the garden this afternoon, for reasons that will become clear.
The more I think about it the more I am convinced that a primary characteristic of the English is a preoccupation with landscape. This is manifested in all kinds of ways, not all of which I have space to reflect on here. The idea came into my head this morning while listening to a poem by Wordsworth, read on the radio. My guess would be that he is still the poet whose work can be more readily identified, and perhaps even recited, by people in this country. I have in mind, of course, his celebrated image of daffodils.
The idea consolidated for me when I started to think about Shakespeare’s celebration of England, in the mouth of John of Gaunt, in Act II, scene 1 of King Richard II. “This earth of majesty …. This other Eden, demi-paradise …. This blessed plot ….” and so on. It is the land that is the focus of this eulogy.
Then my mind turned to painting (naturally) and I was struck by the enormous importance of the landscape tradition in English art, despite the fact that the genre was virtually invented in the Netherlands. A succession of great landscape painters came into mind: Cotman, Constable, Palmer, Nash, Ravillious, and so on, and so on, down to and including Hockney. The genre remains overwhelmingly popular with the public, despite the indifference of many contemporary artists. Just look through the pages of The Artist if you doubt me.
Then, as I tidied up after finishing the weeding another random fact swam into my consciousness. I remember reading a little while ago that the most popular hymn in England (I believe the yardstick was the frequency of requests for it at funerals) is “Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hand hath made.”** It is an unrivalled example of what theologians call “natural theology”, by which they mean the idea that the characteristics of the divinity can be best perceived in nature. (I suppose that another way of putting the matter is that the foundation of English religious belief stands within the philosophical tradition of “the argument from design”.) I could go on, multiplying examples.
Some time ago I came across the observation that the English are really all pagans, and I’m prepared to give a certain amount of credence to that.
*In case you didn’t know, St. George is the patron saint of England.
** Oddly, this hymn was written originally in Sweden, and only came to England via a Russian translation.