Poor Mans Heaven

Description

“We’ll eat all we please from ham and egg trees
that grow by a lake full of beer…
The landlord well take and tie to a stake
and we won’t have to work like a slave…”

In the face of a life defined by exploitation and suffering, the poor of the Middle Ages dreamed up a fantastical land where their sufferings were reversed; where people lived in idleness and plenty – and the rich were barred. This myth of a free earthly paradise emerged in a popular song, The Land of Cokaygne, in which rivers ran with wine and milk, the houses were made of pasties and tarts, and animals ran around cooked and ready to eat.
From fourteenth century Europe to the twentieth century USA, Poor Man’s Heaven traces this popular fantasy, its links to the culture & customs of the times – and the rebels who tried to turn dream into reality…