Poetry · Chapter
Jerusalem, Old and New explained
A satirical poem contrasting the idealized New Jerusalem preached by a parson with the gritty, imperfect reality of a familiar village, where sin and vice persist despite moralizing.
What happens
A satirical poem contrasting the idealized New Jerusalem preached by a parson with the gritty, imperfect reality of a familiar village, where sin and vice persist despite moralizing.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
The parson preaches against vice while sinners continue their ways, highlighting religious hypocrisy.
Political Satire
The poem satirizes the clergy and the idealized vision of a New Jerusalem versus earthly reality.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“But sinners still laugh at his talk of the New Jerusalem—ha-ha, te-he!”
Sinners mock the parson's promises of a perfect afterlife.
Illustrates the disconnect between religious teaching and public skepticism.
“They think of the streets of a village they know, Where horses still sink to the knee, Contrasting its muck with the pavement of gold”
They compare the muddy, imperfect streets of their own town to the golden streets of the New Jerusalem.
Highlights the contrast between idealized faith and gritty reality.