Jerusalem Analysis

Alright let's dig a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of this poem. Most, though not all, of the poem is written in a pattern called "iambic tetrameter." This means that each line contains four...

Ladies and gentlemen, the man, the myth, the legend, the… wait, that's not right. The legend, the myth, the man? Nope, that's not right either. Wait, here it is: a man who's into myths and legend...

We're all over the place in this poem, and we're not just saying that. We've got references to "ancient time," to the English landscape (it's both cloudy and green), to the factories that were a pa...

There's a ton of repetition in this poem. The speaker repeats sounds and words like it's going out of style. The word "England" shows up three times, the words "green" and "pleasant" each pop up tw...

"Jerusalem" is one of those poems where the title isn't really the title. Actually, scratch that. It's one of those poems where the title wasn't really the title, but then became the title. Wait—...

Jerusalem is all over Blake's poetry. It's literally everywhere. For example, the last illuminated book Blake wrote was a massive poem called Jerusalem (not to be confused with the little guy...

Rest assured amigos, this little poem is only a 4. That said, there are a few little kinks that make it just a little trickier than we like. For example, the poem's opening questions come literally...

Blake really had a rough go with the critics. One angry fellow named Robert Hunt once referred to him as an "unfortunate lunatic." (Source.) It's weird. Blake is a really big deal now, but wasn't r...

We regret to inform you that there is no sex in this poem—total bummer, we know. It's a bit odd, because Blake isn't usually so reserved or shy when it comes to the dirty stuff. Maybe he just was...

Revelation 21:2 (7, 15)2 Kings 2:11 (13)Jesus (1, 3, 5)Elijah (12)