Albion (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Ackroyd
- First Published: 2002
- Type of Work: History
- Time of Work: 500-2000
- Setting: England
- Principal Characters: Saint Bede the Venerable, William Blake, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, William Hogarth, Samuel Johnson, Sir Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Ralph Vaughn Williams
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Literature, Twenty-first century, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Seventeenth century, Fifteenth century, Sea or seafaring life, Sixteenth century, Catholics or Catholic Church, Beaches or seashores, Sixth century, Great Britain, Thirteenth century, Fourteenth century, Tenth century, Twelfth century, Rain, Eleventh century, Eighth century, Ninth century, Seventh century
- Locales: England
As Ackroyd sets out to define what it means to be English, he turns first to his home’s landscape. For most of its history, England was heavily forested. To the druids, trees were sacred, and that sentiment lingers. Ackroyd notes that the first design to be placed in a large church window was that of a tree. Wells Chapter House (begun c. 1290) contains a palm-tree vault. As late as the end of the seventeenth century, boys were paid to howl near apple trees to frighten diseases from the plants. The art of John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough was inspired by trees. Ackroyd quotes...
[The entire page is 1718 words long]
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