Five reasons why we love Parry's Jerusalem

In the sporting arenas of Britain and Ireland, de facto anthems exist for all but one of the representative nations: the Scots have Flower of Scotland, the Welsh have Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of my Fathers) and since the 1995 Rugby World Cup there has been a powerful and catchy all-Ireland anthem, Ireland's Call. Only England is left out: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot doesn't cut it and many people say the anthem of England should be Parry's Jerusalem. But – not just for English folk – why does Jerusalem set the pulses racing?

1. It's the tune...

Jerusalem is an extremely artful piece of composition. It begins with a short introduction comprising an opening chord which acts as a call-to-attention, followed by a brief passage establishing a feeling of grandeur and solemnity before ushering in the first line.

The music follows William Blake's text closely, each verse describing a perfect musical arc through the climactic points of each verse ("Was Jerusalem builded here?" and "Till we have built Jerusalem") then down again to the "dark satanic mills" and "in England's green and pleasant land".

Ironically, the music for each shares a problem with God Save the Queen – it ends on a falling phrase, one of the reasons why Britain's national anthem is thought to be a bit pedestrian. But Parry solves this by adding a short tail-piece, or coda, which finishes on a high.

2. The words are a bit bonkers, but hey...

The "feet in ancient time" are those of Jesus of Nazareth. The words allude to a widely-debunked myth that Jesus, as a young man, visited England in the company of Joseph of Arimathea, a tin merchant. This links to the idea of the "Second Coming", although any visit by Jesus would have been during the "unknown" years before he began his ministry - more of a "First Coming" for the people of England.

"Was Jerusalem builded here?" references the concept among churches that Jerusalem symbolically represents Heaven, a place where the faithful may enjoy eternal peace and love. The "dark, satanic mills" are assumed to refer to the physical embodiments of the industrial revolution which had begun around 1760.

Building Jerusalem will involve a struggle, for which the English must arm themselves, with "bows of burnished gold", "arrows of desire" and a "spear"; the "chariot of fire" is sent by God in the Biblical Book of Kings to fetch the prophet Elijah and take him directly to heaven.

Thus armed, in the second verse, the writer pledges to continue the fight until Jerusalem is established. The description of England as a "green and pleasant land" has passed into the language in the same way that so much of English phraseology is actually embedded Shakespeare.

Blake's poem lay undisturbed for much of the 19th century. In 1916, poet laureate Robert Bridges included it in an anthology, The Spirit of Man, which was intended to fortify readers' spirits at a time when the world was facing destruction and slaughter on a wholly unprecedented scale.

In the Preface, he wrote, "From the consequent miseries, the insensate and interminable slaughter, the hate and filth, we can turn to seek comfort only in the quiet confidence of our souls; and we look instinctively to the seers and poets of mankind, whose sayings are the oracles and prophecies of loveliness and loving-kindness."

It therefore made perfect sense for Bridges to ask Parry to set Jerusalem to music for a meeting of Fight for Right, a nascent movement intended to boost morale among Britain's beleaguered soldiers.

Initially reluctant because of the ultra-patriotic tone of the Fight for Right campaign, Parry overcame his reservations, eventually telling his former student Walford Davies, the first conductor: "Here's a tune for you, old chap. Do what you like with it."

According to Parry's biographer, Prof. Jeremy Dibble, "Jerusalem was an instant hit. Parry’s music, coupled with Blake’s words encouraged an exhausted British public, and our soldiers, to keep going."