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| The Union Jack flying high. |
God save our gracious queen,
Long live our noble queen,
God save the queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the queen!
O Lord our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
and make them fall!
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign!
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the queen!
The tune of God Save The Queen / King has been adapted for other nations as anthems and a plethora of other music genres for the past century. It is the national anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and is still in use with several former Commonwealth countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The Queen is still technically the Regent for all these territories.
God Save The Queen as a whole is typical of sneering imperialist sentiments. The British believe their monarch to be selected by divine right, and as such they show this in their anthem.
In the first stanza and third stanza, the British wish their monarch a happy reign and prays to God for His beneficence and protection of their monarch. This is evinced by praying for her so that "Long may she reign!" The anthem even goes as far as to pray that God may shower the monarch with gifts, and that she has the will to defend their nation. This is comparable to most state anthems of nations with monarchs, such as Malaysia. I am reminded of the lyrics, "Rahmat bahagia, tuhan kurniakan, raja kita selamat bertakhta!"
The second stanza is the epitome of British conceit; it calls for God to reign down terror on the enemies of the monarch and Great Britain. This is not crossing the line between extremism and patriotism; this is reinventing it. The lyrics themselves are very hostile : "Confound their politics", "Frustrate their knavish tricks", "Scatter her enemies", and "Make them fall." To date, no other state anthem demands such from a divine being. While it would probably be reassuring to British subjects, it makes for bad diplomacy. Imagine if this song had to be played in a foreign country during a sporting event? How would the other team from the other nation feel? Antagonized.
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| The Imperialists at their best! |
Overall, patriotic and extremist overtones. For its flaws the song does make you proud to be English. In fact, it almost makes you become grudgingly proud of the fact that you were one of their colonies. Almost.
If any of you have something to say about the English, please do so in the comments section! Remember the rules though!
Thanks everyone, and jolly good day from Nik Rashid!
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| Driving near Big Ben. |
Hello Aina,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting piece, although I felt it was a little misleading.
I am Canadian, and proud as such, yet I live in the UK and have done for some time. I hold a valid connection to the Commonwealth and to the UK in the present day, so feel able to comment on your interpretation.
The second verse, which undoubtedly is the most controversial, hasn't featured in school publications for over 100 years. Though it remains in the Standard version, very few people in the UK or elsewhere, I suspect, have heard it or are even aware of it. To suggest that it still calls for the scattering of her enemies, in the modern day, is erroneous.
Typically, only the first verse is every sung.
This is true at sporting events, so again, a little misleading to cause offence to the other team. The Haka's of Fiji and New Zealand are far more antagonising during the opening of a match than the humble, one verse, Anthem.
As a National Anthem, it isn't actually decreed to be an Anthem of the Nation. Its use as an Anthem is more defacto.
The lines God Save The Queen are an arrangement from an older phrase, God Save The King, dating back many hundreds of years. It is again, not commonly used, but does feature in official communications (army) from time to time. Beyond that, I think you'd be hard pressed to hear anyone say such these days.
You referred to the Flag above as the Union Jack. It is the Union Flag. It is only a Union Jack when hung from the Jack-Staff aboard a ship. Hence, the flag above not being on a Naval ship, the correct term is Union Flag.
Big Ben was never a name for the clock tower at Parliament. It was an unofficial Nick Name for that tower. The tower was officially named Queen Elizabeth II Tower in commemoration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Since your post is only dated March 2013, you'd think an obvious error like that could have been double checked using the internet and a well known search engine, beginning with the letter "G".
Otherwise - an interesting explanation and interpretation.
:-)