{"id":1443,"date":"2026-08-19T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/climate-change-is-rewriting-englands-green-and-pleasant-story\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:35:00","slug":"climate-change-is-rewriting-englands-green-and-pleasant-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/climate-change-is-rewriting-englands-green-and-pleasant-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change is rewriting England\u2019s \u2018green and pleasant\u2019 story"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1804, William Blake wrote in his poem Jerusalem of England\u2019s \u201cgreen and pleasant\u201d land. This idealised vision of English pastoral has resonated through two centuries, fusing the character of the nation with its landscape \u2013 those \u201cmountains green\u201d and \u201cpleasant pastures\u201d. <\/p>\n

Turned into a hymn by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, Jerusalem is sung annually at the Last Night of the Proms<\/a>. It has been adopted by various English sports<\/a> as an unofficial anthem, including at the Commonwealth Games<\/a>. It\u2019s invoked regularly by politicians of all persuasions. The \u201cgreen and pleasant land\u201d has become a powerful emblem for England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In my book, A History of England in 25 Poems<\/a>, I\u2019ve traced that \u201cgreen and pleasant\u201d ideal over a millennium of English writing, as it forges ideas of English identity. <\/p>\n

But now, a scorching summer has left this green and pleasant land in flames and we\u2019re warned that this is only the beginning<\/a>. What could climate crisis mean for our self-image as a nation, and for the stories we tell about ourselves?<\/p>\n

Shared experience over 1,300 years<\/h2>\n

The idea of England as the green and pleasant land doesn\u2019t begin with Blake. It\u2019s part of 1,300 years of tradition in poetry and prose that goes back at least to the writing of the English monk, author and scholar, the Venerable Bede<\/a> in the eighth century. Bede describes Britain as \u201can island of the ocean\u201d, filled with green \u2013 trees, crops, pasture \u2013 filigreed with rivers and springs, and stocked with natural resources.<\/p>\n

Since then, English poetry has been steeped in imagery of England\u2019s green.<\/p>\n

The 13th-century round-song Sumer Is Icumen In<\/a> celebrates the arrival of spring. <\/p>\n

\n

The seed grows
\nand the meadow blossoms
\nand the wood springs (into leaf) now
\n(Growe\u00fe sed
\nand blowe\u00fe med
\nand spring\u00fe \u00fee wde nu)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The two-tone call of the cuckoo echoes through the song \u2013 a joyful expression of shared experience as the familiar green of seasonal renewal returns.<\/p>\n

\n

The climate crisis has a communications problem. How do we tell stories that move people \u2013 not just to fear the future, but to imagine and build a better one? This article is part of Climate Storytelling<\/a>, a series exploring how arts and science can join forces to spark understanding, hope and action.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

England\u2019s green is there in the flower-carpeted arbour (a leafy, flower-filled garden) of the 14th-century poem Pearl<\/a>, where a father lays his head to grieve for his lost daughter, possibly killed by the plague. The arbour is \u201cshaded with plants bright and beautiful\u201d (\u201cschadowed \u00feis worte\u021d ful schyre and schene\u201d). It\u2019s the perfect English summer\u2019s day, recognisable to any reader \u2013 at odds with the father\u2019s desolation at the loss of his little child. <\/p>\n

And there\u2019s the famous springtime of Chaucer\u2019s pilgrims, as they ride out through \u201cApril, with its sweet showers\u201d (\u201cAprill with his shoures soote\u201d) on their way to Canterbury in The Canterbury Tales<\/a>. All the familiar signs of spring \u2013 rain, sunshine, flowers and crops flourishing \u2013 inspire these pilgrims to set out on their journey. <\/p>\n

\n \"John
\n John of Gaunt giving his dying<\/span>
\n H C. Selous<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the late 16th century, Shakespeare gives us another evocation of England in Richard II. Here, the dying John of Gaunt<\/a> describes England as a \u201cblessed plot\u201d and an \u201cother Eden\u201d \u2013 an \u201cother Eden\u201d that is delightful and perfect. Yet it\u2019s often forgotten today that Gaunt is actually warning that of losing this \u201cdear, dear land\u201d to rot and ruin.<\/p>\n

In search of England<\/h2>\n

Later, poets celebrate the delightful parkland of great country estates. Ben Jonson\u2019s To Penshurst<\/a>, first published in 1611, sets the model for the \u201ccountry house poem\u201d, idealising the perfect pastoral of a country estate as a microcosm of England itself, with \u201cgarden flowers\u201d, fertile woods and meadows, and contented, obedient inhabitants under their benevolent master.<\/p>\n

In his prose, Edward Thomas wrestled with ideas of what England is or could be.
\nOn the eve of the Great War, Thomas experiences an unexpected moment of stillness in a halt at Adlestrop railway station. In this quiet moment, he seems to get close to it, in the misty, elegiac song \u201cof all the birds \/ Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire\u201d<\/a>. Thomas writes elsewhere that he finds England only in \u201cthe little things\u201d: in trees, birdsong, nature, green.<\/p>\n

\n \"A
\n A painting of a green Oxfordshire by Evelyn Fothergill Abbot.<\/span>
\n Reading Museum<\/a>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This tradition of English pastoral continues right up to today. In the selection of 25 poems in my book, the last words go to contemporary poet Zaffar Kunial, in his poem The Groundsman from his 2022 collection, England\u2019s Green<\/a>. The Groundsman stands us at the edge of a cricket pitch, by its overgrown boundary in the height of summer. Grasses and wildflowers wave and tangle. A butterfly flutters. The poem sweeps through time and history in the names and stories of flora and fauna, as light as skimming your fingers through summer grasses. Through his green imagery, Kunial is in conversation with William Wordsworth, John Clare, Edmund Spenser \u2013 a pantheon of English pastoral through the centuries.<\/p>\n

But our climate is changing<\/a>. This summer\u2019s heat is a harbinger of the new normal<\/a>. Green fields are yellow<\/a> and parched. Plants in the UK flower around a month earlier<\/a> than they did hundreds of years ago, because of global heating. Those singing cuckoos are now on the red conservation list<\/a>. We\u2019re facing future ecosystem collapse \u2013 and it\u2019s already happening now.<\/p>\n

If the future of England\u2019s green and pleasant land is precarious, then so might be the stories we tell about ourselves. <\/p>\n

Are we ready to let go of a formative national mythology? A verdant, pleasant, temperate and moderate land. A land that begets people of mildness and clemency, not extremes. A green and generative earth that brings forth flourishing and fruitfulness. Will these old emblems still hold? Without our green and pleasant land, do we know who we are?<\/p>\n

I hope we\u2019ll save our green England before it\u2019s too late. I want my children to listen to birdsong in spring woodland, just as others have done centuries before them. Today, \u201cgreen and pleasant\u201d still shapes how people think and talk about England, 1,300 years after Bede. But this is about more than political arguments. Politicians, conservationists, activists \u2013 and poets<\/a> \u2013 all have a part to play in helping us write this new map for our country, in a world poised at an environmental turning point.<\/p>\n

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Catherine Clarke wrote A History of England in 25 Poems.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1804, William Blake wrote in his poem Jerusalem of England\u2019s \u201cgreen and pleasant\u201d land. This idealised vision of English pastoral has resonated through two centuries, fusing the character of the nation with its landscape \u2013 those \u201cmountains green\u201d and \u201cpleasant pastures\u201d. Turned into a hymn by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, Jerusalem is sung […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}