On Reading Green Unpleasant Land
The carefully curated aesthetic
Of quintessential Englishness
Lies in an idealised Empire-story:
Gentility, and sense and sensibility,
Begat by imperial benignity:
The White Man’s Burden.
In fact, the archetype English aesthetic
Is bound up and down with malignity,
Brutality, rapine and slavery.
But we’re not allowed to mention that.
For if we do, the illusion’s shattered,
And the Empire’s stolen clothes
Are there for all to see and survey.
Instead, look the other way, please:
Look at that wonderful view:
The airbrush and the gaslighting.
Isn’t England beautiful?
Professor Corinne Fowler's book: completely recommended or borrow from me.
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