Chemical Wedding (yet again!)

[Wrathchild]

Couple of q's that all you literature/history buffs might be able to help with...

1) For research purposes, when did Blake first come up with the concept of the chemical wedding, and where can I read more about it?

2) Why can't I listen to Jerusalem without feeling the urge to stand in a tea chest or put a paper bag over my head?

W

 

[phlogiston]

1) I'll check my book when I get home, but there's plenty of stuff on the internet. Just hit your friendly local search engine. (www.google.com is the one I recommend)

2) Because you're.......different.

 

[spawn]

I dont know why blake is portrayed as a bit mad in history, he just hated people, what the hells wrong with that?? Only sane one more like it!

Why would you stand in a tea chest?

 

[Wrathchild]

Because, my dear Spawn, that was a reference to an early Monty Python sketch in which the staff of the furniture section of a department store would put paper bags over their heads, stand in tea-chests and sing "Jerusalem" (Blake's original hymn) at the top of their lungs whenever anyone said the word "mattress."

Bugger. I've ruined the joke now by explaining it, but since I'm surrounded by people who find The Panel and All Aussie Adventures funny, it doesn't really matter...

W

 

[spawn]

Oh I havent seen that, it sounds funny though, must investigate...i like that life of brian show

 

[Spiff]

Originally posted by Wrathchild
Bugger. I've ruined the joke now by explaining it, but since I'm surrounded by people who find The Panel and All Aussie Adventures funny, it doesn't really matter...

Hmm... I can handle criticism of The Panel now and then (I rarely watch a full episode), but I will not stand for someone dissing Russell Coight and his excellent show! It's great stuff!

Time to hit the road!

 

[spawn]

I thought he was complimenting me on my taste in tv........damn that sarcastic wrathchild!

I love both those shows.

 

[phlogiston]

OK, I've checked me book.

Blake was not really into the whole "Chemical Wedding" thing, that was just a spin put on by Bruce. Blake was more of a spiritualist, and was obsessed with God, and good and evil and innocence and experience and the like. The songs Thel, Urizen, Jerusalem and Jericho are more true to the Blake ideal than the others. Crimson, Wedding, Tower, and Alchemist are kinda Blakeish, and Floor and Machine Men are two other songs.

And I'm with Wrath on his televisual choices (at least with the three discussed up to this point).