A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray

Last updated

"A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray" is an essay by the English author George Orwell. In it Orwell encourages the public-spirited action of planting trees, which may well make up for the harm people do in their lives. The essay was first published in Tribune on 26 April 1946.

Contents

Background

The "Vicar of Bray" is a song about a 17th-century cleric who changed his religious views from one extreme to another according to the government of the time in order to retain his living.

In 1936, Orwell took the lease of a cottage at Wallington, Hertfordshire and moved in by 2 April, two months before his marriage. It was a very small cottage called the "Stores" with almost no modern facilities in a tiny village. He needed somewhere quiet to work on The Road to Wigan Pier , and as well as writing, he spent hours regenerating the garden. [1]

In the preceding ten years Orwell had seen numerous changes of political affiliation in the ideological battlegrounds of socialism, fascism, capitalism, Trotskyism and Stalinism within the wider context of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Orwell discussed these more specifically in his more political essays such as "Second Thoughts on James Burnham". [2]

Summary

Orwell notes that the Vicar of Bray has a very poor reputation because of his political opportunism, but yet he left two positive legacies - an entertaining song and a giant yew tree which he is said to have planted in Bray church yard. Orwell then quotes two examples, one of murder and the other of adultery, where the perpetrators left something that could be appreciated after their deaths. Thibaw, last king of Burma, decapitated seventy or eighty of his brothers on his accession, but planted Tamarind trees in Mandalay, and Mrs. Overall, wife of Dean Overall was a wanton but was commemorated in an entertaining poem about her – "The Shepherd Swaine" by John Aubrey.

Orwell then makes a plea in favour of tree-planting. Ten years previously he had bought a job-lot of fruit trees and rose bushes from a nursery, and he notes how they have flourished and will hopefully be appreciated in years to come. Therefore, planting a tree is a good way of atoning for misdeeds.

Extract

Still, it might not be a bad idea, every time you commit an anti-social act, to make a note of it in your diary, and then, at the appropriate season, push an acorn into the ground. And even if one in twenty of them came to maturity, you might do quite a lot of harm in your lifetime, and still like the Vicar of Bray, end up as a public benefactor after all.

Legacy

In 2021, writer Rebecca Solnit paid a visit to the cottage in Wallington, hoping to see Orwell's fruit trees. Alas, the trees had been cut down in the 1990s, but the roses he planted were still alive and well. [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Animal Farm</i> 1945 novella by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state far worse than before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Orwell</span> English author and journalist (1903–1950)

Eric Arthur Blair was a British novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell, a name inspired by his favourite place, the River Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

<i>Homage to Catalonia</i> Book by George Orwell

Homage to Catalonia is a 1938 memoir by English writer George Orwell, in which he accounts his personal experiences and observations while fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

<i>The Road to Wigan Pier</i> 1937 book by English writer George Orwell

The Road to Wigan Pier is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II. The second half is a long essay on his middle-class upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. Orwell states plainly that he himself is in favour of socialism, but feels it necessary to point out reasons why many people who would benefit from socialism, and should logically support it, are in practice likely to be strong opponents.

The Vicar of Bray is a satirical description of an individual fundamentally changing his principles to remain in ecclesiastical office as external requirements change around him. The religious upheavals in England from 1533 to 1559 made it impossible for any devout clergyman to comply with all the successive requirements of the established church. The original figure was the vicar Simon Aleyn, although clerics who faced vicissitudes resulted in revised versions of the story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics and the English Language</span> 1946 essay by George Orwell

"Politics and the English Language" (1946) is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the "ugly and inaccurate" written English of his time and examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Blair</span> British writer (1905–1945)

Eileen Maud Blair was the first wife of George Orwell. During World War II, she worked for the Censorship Department of the Ministry of Information in London and the Ministry of Food.

Jack Common was a British socialist, essayist and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakespeare garden</span> Type of themed garden

A Shakespeare garden is a themed garden that cultivates some or all of the 175 plants mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. In English-speaking countries, particularly the United States, these are often public gardens associated with parks, universities, and Shakespeare festivals. Shakespeare gardens are sites of cultural, educational, and romantic interest and can be locations for outdoor weddings.

"Why I Write" (1946) is an essay by George Orwell detailing his personal journey to becoming a writer. It was first published in the Summer 1946 edition of Gangrel. The editors of this magazine, J.B.Pick and Charles Neil, had asked a selection of writers to explain why they write.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Solnit</span> American writer (born 1961)

Rebecca Solnit is an American writer. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallington, Hertfordshire</span> Village in Hertfordshire, England

Wallington is a small village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, near the town of Baldock. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 150. Nearby villages include Rushden and Sandon. It shares a parish council with Rushden.

"Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels" is a critical essay published in 1946 by the English author George Orwell. The essay is a review of Gulliver's Travels with a discussion of its author Jonathan Swift. The essay first appeared in Polemic No 5 in September 1946.

"Some Thoughts on the Common Toad" is an essay published in 1946 by the English author George Orwell. It is a eulogy in favour of spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Orwell bibliography</span> Literary work of George Orwell

The bibliography of George Orwell includes journalism, essays, novels, and non-fiction books written by the British writer Eric Blair (1903–1950), either under his own name or, more usually, under his pen name George Orwell. Orwell was a prolific writer on topics related to contemporary English society and literary criticism, who has been declared "perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture." His non-fiction cultural and political criticism constitutes the majority of his work, but Orwell also wrote in several genres of fictional literature.

<i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> 1949 novel by George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by English writer Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under the pen name George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society. Orwell, a staunch believer in democratic socialism and member of the anti-Stalinist Left, modelled the Britain under authoritarian socialism in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism and on the very similar practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.

Vicar of Bray may refer to:

<i>Rosa</i> Albertine Rose cultivar

Rosa 'Albertine' is a salmon-pink hybrid wichurana, a large-flowered rambling rose that blooms in clusters once a year. The cultivar was bred by René Barbier before 1921 and introduced into Australia by Hazlewood Bros. Pty. Ltd. in 1923 as "Albertine". It has been awarded the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the Royal National Rose Society (RNRS) in 1993.

<i>Orwells Roses</i> 2021 book by Rebecca Solnit

Orwell's Roses is a book of biography and literary criticism by Rebecca Solnit. The book explores the relation between George Orwell's interest in gardening and his other authorial and political commitments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reflections on Gandhi</span> Essay by George Orwell

"Reflections on Gandhi" is an essay by George Orwell, first published in 1949, which responds to Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. The essay, which appeared in the American magazine Partisan Review, discusses the autobiography and offers both praise and criticism to Gandhi, focusing in particular on the effectiveness of Gandhian nonviolence and the tension between Gandhi's spiritual worldview and his political activities. One of a number of essays written by Orwell and published between Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), "Reflections on Gandhi" was the last of Orwell's essays to be published in his lifetime and was not republished until after his death.

References

  1. Taylor, D. J. (2003). Orwell: The Life. Chatto & Windus. ISBN   978-0099283461.
  2. Orwell, George (1 September 1968). Orwell, Sonia; Angus, Ian (eds.). The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose (1945–1950). Penguin Books. ISBN   978-0436350153.
  3. "Every time you commit an antisocial act, push an acorn into the ground': Rebecca Solnit on Orwell's lessons from nature". The Guardian . 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  4. Solnit, Rebecca (19 October 2021). Orwell's Roses. Viking Press. ISBN   978-0593083369.