Anglo-Saxon cultural revival

An anglo saxon cultural oganisation could be very important. It needs to be a living orgnic thing, however, and not nostalgia for something fossilised. I have often wondered about reviving anglo saxon verse forms but I do not think them adequate and we need at least the Ballad form to express our woes. I do not see how we can get by without French cultural forms in any revival we plan now. I think Silver Falcon said intimated as much in her praise of chaucer on another thread.
The revival of local fairs and festivals could be important and provide local bonds. Is The English Music Festival of interest?

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It is my impression that there is significantly increased interest in Anglo Saxon history and culture. Indeed, my own interest has grown in recent years. [Prior to that it was mainly 18th & 19th Century European and British political and economic history.]

I see it as eminently desirable to promote interest, especially without conscious attempts to link it to contemporary times [ie politics]. I believe that, in any event, connections with today's circumstances will be made naturally, as knowledge of and interest in our heritage increases and spreads.

A good starting point is Steadfast and, whilst an 'Anglo-Saxon cultural organisation' seems desirable, do the resources to create and to maintain it presently exist?

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This Radio programme can still be listened to. Some of the commnts posted are contentious.

BBC - Radio 4 In Our Time - The Norman Yoke

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I think something formal would be difficult to get off the ground on current resources, but an informal network could get the word out when any events appropriate to A-S cultural themes could be got along to (eg the Hastings re-enactment/memorial ceremony)

I know a guy from the Wessex Society who talks at schools about the A-S era and its importance, so this sort of initiative could be educational as much as anything else.

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VI, that is the sort of thing Steadast could do. Strictly speaking it is outside the poitical arena so the FEP might not be able to promote it dirtectly.

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An English oriented cultural movement would be a wonderful thing. As I am an Arts graduate and an English PhD, I see important threads all the way from the beginning in art, crafts and architecture to the very important English literary works. These begin with the Old English, or Anglo-Saxon period but by no means end there. They are part of what we see as our "great tradition" and they find their most stunning expression in the evolution of the English novel and the various forms this has taken all the way from the early forms through Jane Austin, and the moderns right up to our contemporary period. Tolkien, it must be remembered, is an English scholar (from South Africa, ironically) who wrote a ground breaking fantasy series that placed him in a position of father of this genre and that opened up Germanic mythology to a global audience.

I am concerned that English children will not, in our current climate of anti-English rebellion, ever get the chance to know the greatness of our language and the truly astounding output of our poets, playwrights and novelists.

(There is also the work of our painters, architects, sculptors and musicians, our world class actors and actresses, our inventors, ... the heritage that revolves around the term "English" is wide and wonderfully diverse and an English Society that catered to it couldn't go amiss in a world where this legacy is being trampled on by yobs and sold down the river by lefties).

Do people know about our portraiture? Our painters like William Turner or Gainsborough or Constable? To mention a few.

England is a world in one legacy and spans the globe in its richness and subject matter, yet remains in important ways, English, because it is drawn into this heritage by the immense literary power of the language itself.

Sorry to go off at a tangent, but it is my subject and I love it as my own life. It's the gift of a nation to a nation - over centuries. :-)

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Originally Posted by SilverFalcon:
An English oriented cultural movement would be a wonderful thing. As I am an Arts graduate and an English PhD, I see important threads all the way from the beginning in art, crafts and architecture to the very important English literary works. These begin with the Old English, or Anglo-Saxon period but by no means end there. They are part of what we see as our "great tradition" and they find their most stunning expression in the evolution of the English novel and the various forms this has taken all the way from the early forms through Jane Austin, and the moderns right up to our contemporary period. Tolkien, it must be remembered, is an English scholar (from South Africa, ironically) who wrote a ground breaking fantasy series that placed him in a position of father of this genre and that opened up Germanic mythology to a global audience.

I am concerned that English children will not, in our current climate of anti-English rebellion, ever get the chance to know the greatness of our language and the truly astounding output of our poets, playwrights and novelists.

(There is also the work of our painters, architects, sculptors and musicians, our world class actors and actresses, our inventors, ... the heritage that revolves around the term "English" is wide and wonderfully diverse and an English Society that catered to it couldn't go amiss in a world where this legacy is being trampled on by yobs and sold down the river by lefties).

Do people know about our portraiture? Our painters like William Turner or Gainsborough or Constable? To mention a few.

England is a world in one legacy and spans the globe in its richness and subject matter, yet remains in important ways, English, because it is drawn into this heritage by the immense literary power of the language itself.

Sorry to go off at a tangent, but it is my subject and I love it as my own life. It's the gift of a nation to a nation - over centuries. :-)

Your penultimate assertion should [rightly] provide assurance about the concerns expressed in your second paragraph! The old adage about the power of the pen [ie language] was emphatically underlined by resistance in Tudor times to the bible being translated into English and thereby made available more generally!

It is OUR [the English people's] subject! :-)

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