DOCSLIB.ORG

Department of English and American Studies Darkness in William Blake's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Department of English and American Studies Darkness in William Blake's Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Ivona Schöfrová Darkness in William Blake’s The First Book of Urizen Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Hardy, Ph. D. 2015 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Ivona Schöfrová Acknowledgement I would like to thank my family and my partner Miroslav Vrzal for their loving support throughout my studies. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Hardy, Ph.D., for his valuable advice and encouragement. Table of Contents Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………..1 1 Introduction.…………………………………………………………..……..2 2 William Blake………………………………………………..………............6 2.1 Blake’s Prophetic Books……………………...………………9 2.2 The [First] Book of Urizen……………….….…………..…..12 3 Darkness in The First Book of Urizen.........……………………..……………19 3.1 Birth …………………………………….…………………………..21 3.1.1 Womb……………………………………………………22 3.1.2 Sex………………………………………….……………27 3.1.3 Embryology……………………………………………...32 3.2 Depths………………………………………………………………43 3.2.1 Abyss………………………………………………....…43 3.2.2 Sleep………………………………………………..…...51 3.2.3 Death…………………………………………..………..56 3.3 Perception………………………………………………………………61 3.3.1. Senses……………………………………………......…62 3.3.2. Law……………………………………………………..71 4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………82 5 Works Cited.……………………………………………………………….87 6 List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………91 7 Resumé (Englsih) …………………………………………………………92 8 Resumé (Czech) …………………………………………………………..93 Appendix …………………………………………………………………….……94 1 1 Introduction The main aim of this thesis is to analyse selected aspects of darkness in William Blake’s The First Book of Urizen in terms of references to darkness at the textual level as well as at the visual level, taking into account also the imagery and the metaphorical level of The First Book of Urizen. These aspects are analysed in order to explain and comment on the significance of darkness and its meaning in Blake’s poem. The thesis analyses darkness with respect to the form of Blake’s The First Book of Urizen, which consists of twenty-eight plates in the form of relief etching with hand colouring, distinguishing between eighteen plates of text and designs, and ten full page designs. The thesis tries to observe how Blake uses darkness and how he employs it in order to express poetically his views on selected myths. Blake seems to derive his mythology from different sources of myths, such as Greek and Christian myths, which appear to be interconnected in his The First Book of Urizen. This allows him to introduce his own perspectives on genesis influenced by the concepts of Gnosticism, particularly the concepts of the demiurge1and his material world. Blake attempts to comment on various problematic aspects of the material world and its establishment in order to express his personal philosophies. The thesis consists of three major chapters, each divided into specific sections in order to provide a clear thematic division. The first chapter offers a theoretical background which is considered necessary for general understanding of the analysed aspects of darkness and its negative connotations in The First Book of Urizen. To be more specific, the chapter is devoted to William Blake and its main aim is to introduce not only William Blake but also the relevant aspects of his life, family background, education, and possible influences on his works, which are considered important and relevant for the subsequent analysis. It further 1 Term used in Gnosticism to refer to the creator of the material world. 2 focuses on William Blake’s prophetic writings and tries to provide a brief outline of his literary works known as prophetic books. This outline may be important in order to understand Blake’s literary tendencies in relation to the selected aspects of darkness. Furthermore, William Blake’s The First Book of Urizen is introduced and its significance within Blake’s works and his prophetic writings is explained. In addition, the chapter attempts to outline the methodology of the research and it further elaborates on the research question. A chronology of events and key characters from The First Book of Urizen is provided in order to clarify the epics of the poem, which may be helpful in terms of understanding the interpretation of the poem as well as the analytical part of the thesis. Subsequently, the following chapter ‘Darkness in The First Book of Urizen’ attempts to analyse the selected aspects of darkness within three main categories. The first category deals with birth in relation to darkness and it tries to explain the significance of darkness in terms of the three following subcategories related to birth, including the symbolism and interpretations of a womb, conception and embryology. The following chapter deals with the category of depths in relation to darkness and it analyses the significance of darkness and its meaning and negative connotations in terms of three categories particularly interested in abysses, sleep and the concept of death. The third analytical chapter is devoted to perception and possible problems resulting from perception in their relation to darkness. Perception is analysed in terms of the category of senses and Urizen’s law. The analytical part of the thesis partially relies on The William Blake Archive, which is a 1996 digital humanities project providing digital reproductions of William Blake’s works and it is used as a primary source. In addition, the thesis also takes into account selected academics and their woks which are considered relevant to the analysis of The First Book of Urizen. In particular, the theoretical background and the analytical part frequently refer to works of Northrop Frye, namely his Collected Works of Northrop Frye: Northrop Frye on 3 Milton and Blake 2and Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake3, which may be important for understanding William Blake’s works and literary tendencies. Furthermore, references to Peter Ackroyd’s Blake4 as well as to Kathleen Raine’s William Blake5 are used to clarify Blake’s biographical data including his life and his family background. For the purpose of the thesis, Camille Paglia and her Sex Bound and Unbound. Blake6 is also considered an important source of references since it deals with possible interpretations of Blake’s works. Finally, the thesis also takes into consideration other scholars, such as Alexander Gilchrist’s The Life of William Blake7, David Erdman and his commentaries to Blake’s designs in The Illuminated Blake8 or J. Sloss’s and J. P. R. Wallis’s The Prophetic Writings of William Blake9. The complete list of secondary sources is provided in the Works Cited of this thesis. The last part of the thesis is the conclusion. It introduces the findings resulting from the analysis of the aspects of darkness in Blake’s The First Book of Urizen with respect to the mentioned categories of darkness at the textual, visual and metaphorical level. In the chapter, Blake’s development of the concept of darkness will be further discussed and particularised. Finally, it may be necessary to emphasise Appendix of the thesis because it provides the mentioned twenty-eight plates of William Blake’s The First Book of Urizen, as well as other selected designs by William Blake which are considered relevant for the thesis (in terms of the possibility to compare and contrast The First Book of Urizen with other Blake’s 2 Erdman, David V. The Illuminated Blake. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1974. Print. 3 Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. 4 Ackroyd, Peter. Blake. London: Vintage; 1999. Print 5 Raine, Kathleen. William Blake. London: Thames & Hudson, 1996. Print. 6 Paglia, Camille. "Sex Bound and Unbound. Blake". Sexual Personae. New York: Vintage, 1991. 270–299. 7 Gilchrist, Alexander. The Life of William Blake. Ed. Walford Graham Robertson. London: John Lane, 1929. Print. 8 Erdman, David V. The Illuminated Blake. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1974. Print. 9 D. J. Sloss and J. P. R. Wallis "The Book of Urizen." The Prophetic Writings of William Blake. Ed. Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon, 1926. 80-104. Print. 4 works and concepts). Thus, not only textual but also visual references are provided and also clarified. 5 2 William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) is a generally known and recognised English poet of the Romantic Age. However it is not possible to reduce his sphere of interest and his work only to poetry or generally literature. William Blake, apart from being a canonical author, is also a recognised visual artist, particularly engraver, painter and colourist. He is also indisputably regarded a graphic designer, calligrapher, printmaker and the inventor of the illuminated printing method. Furthermore, one needs to take into the account that William Blake is also considered an important philosopher, visionary, mystic and occultist. However, the list is still not complete. William Blake is also recognised for his political views as well as his views on religion, which are considered provocative. Therefore, Blake is also appreciated as a non-conformist, radical, autodidact, decided and strict individualist or sexual rebel whose revolutionary views were seen in terms of a radiating antichristian ethos10. Blake’s artworks are regarded as a complex and masterful combination of Blake’s skills including elements from various branches and spheres of his interests. William Blake was born into the family
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 2013
    ARTICLE Part II: Reproductions of Drawings and Paintings Section A: Illustrations of Individual Authors Section B: Collections and Selections Part III: Commercial Engravings Section A: Illustrations of Individual Authors William Blake and His Circle: Part IV: Catalogues and Bibliographies A Checklist of Publications and Section A: Individual Catalogues Section B: Collections and Selections Discoveries in 2013 Part V: Books Owned by William Blake the Poet Part VI: Criticism, Biography, and Scholarly Studies By G. E. Bentley, Jr. Division II: Blake’s Circle Blake Publications and Discoveries in 2013 with the assistance of Hikari Sato for Japanese publications and of Fernando 1 The checklist of Blake publications recorded in 2013 in- Castanedo for Spanish publications cludes works in French, German, Japanese, Russian, Span- ish, and Ukrainian, and there are doctoral dissertations G. E. Bentley, Jr. ([email protected]) is try- from Birmingham, Cambridge, City University of New ing to learn how to recognize the many styles of hand- York, Florida State, Hiroshima, Maryland, Northwestern, writing of a professional calligrapher like Blake, who Oxford, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Voronezh used four distinct hands in The Four Zoas. State, and Wrocław. The Folio Society facsimile of Blake’s designs for Gray’s Poems and the detailed records of “Sale Editors’ notes: Catalogues of Blake’s Works 1791-2013” are likely to prove The invaluable Bentley checklist has grown to the point to be among the most lastingly valuable of the works listed. where we are unable to publish it in its entirety. All the material will be incorporated into the cumulative Gallica “William Blake and His Circle” and “Sale Catalogues of William Blake’s Works” on the Bentley Blake Collection 2 A wonderful resource new to me is Gallica <http://gallica.
    [Show full text]
  • William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper” 1 When My Mother Died I
    William Blake “The Chimney Sweeper” 1 “The Chimney Sweeper” 2 When my mother died I was very young. A little black thing among the snow: And my father sold me while yet my tongue Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! Could scarcely cry “ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” Where are thy father & mother? say? So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. They are both gone up to the church to pray. There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, Because I was happy upon the heath, That curl’d like a lamb’s back, was shav’d: so I said: And smil’d among the winters snow: “Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare They clothed me in the clothes of death, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.” And taught me to sing the notes of woe. And so he was quiet & that very night, And because I am happy, & dance & sing, As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! They think they have done me no injury: That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack, And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King Were all of them lock’d up in coffi ns of black. Who make up a heaven of our misery. And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open’d the coffi ns & set them all free; Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun. Then naked & white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, 1 Songs of Innocence He’d have God for his father & never want joy.
    [Show full text]
  • Issues) and Begin with the Summer Issue
    BLAKE AN . ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY Blake in the Marketplace for 2010 / J VOLUME44 NUMBER 4 SPRING 2011 AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY www.blakequarterly.org VOLUME44 NUMBER4 SPRING 2011 CONTENTS Article Review Blake in the Marketplace, 2010 Mind-Forg'd Manacles: William Blake and Slavery, By Robert N. Essick 116 Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, 26 January-6 April 2008; Blake's Shadow: William Blake and His Artistic Legacy, Whitworth Gallery, 26 January-20 April 2008 Reviewed by Jeremy Tambling 142 Newsletter Blake Goes Online 143 A D V I s 0 R y B 0 A R D G. E. Bentley, Jr., University of Toronto, retired Nelson Hilton, University of Georgia Martin Butlin, London Anne K. Mellor, University of California, Los Angeles DetlefW Dorrbecker, University of Trier Joseph Viscomi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Robert N. Essick, University of California, Riverside David Worrall, The Nottingham Trent University Angela Esterhammer, University of Zurich CONTRIBUTORS David Worrall, Faculty of Humanities, The Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG 11 SNS UK E-mail: [email protected]. uk ROBERT N. ESSICK has been collecting and writing about Blake for over forty years. JEREMY TAMBLING ([email protected]) is professor of literature at the University of Manchester and INFORMATION author of Blake's Night Thoughts (2004) and of several other monographs on nineteenth- and twentieth-century moder­ nity. BLAKE/AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY is published under the sponsorship of the Department ofEnglish, University of Roch­ ester. Subscriptions are $66 for institutions, $33 for individu­ als. All subscriptions are by the volume ( 1 year, 4 issues) and begin with the summer issue.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mental Traveller”: Man’S Eternal Journey
    ARTICLE “The Mental Traveller”: Man’s Eternal Journey Izak Bouwer, Paul McNally Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 12, Issue 3, Winter 1978-79, pp. 184- 192 184 "THE MENTAL TRAVELLER": MAN'S ETERNAL JOURNEY The spiritual States of the Soul are all Eternal Distinguish between the man, & his present State (Jerusalem 52, El 98, K681) IZAK BOUWER & PAUL McNALLY he Mental Traveller" describes a cycle in Traveller" portrays the successive states through which two figures, one male and one female, which Man passes on his eternal journey, as deter- T grow from infancy to old age and back to mined by the complementary interplay of two prin- infancy again. Each grows younger as the other grows ciples in him: the Spiritual, expressed through his older, so that each is oldest when the other is at imaginative faculty, and the Natural, expressed 5 the point of birth. This curious round of change through his earthly nature. This theme of Man's becomes understandable when we realize that the eternal journey was of profound importance to Blake, figures personify two complementary principles. How- and inspires his entire mythology, so that the poem ever, the interpretation of these principles and of emerges as a compact counterpart to his major work, their cycle of change has proved to be puzzling and and a summary of his spiritual vision. controversial. Of two main critical traditions, the earlier represents the cycle as essentially proto- It was Blake's conviction that "Mental Things typical of cyclic process, and in particular of are alone Real" {VLJ, E555, K617), and he considered historical cycles.2 Such a generalizing approach is it his great task to "open the Eternal Worlds, to out of character for Blake, and the cyclic processes open the immortal Eyes / Of Man inwards into the of history are certainly within the grasp of "cold Worlds of Thought: into Eternity ..." {Jerusalem Earth wanderers," while this cycle is explicitly said 5:18-19, E146, K623).
    [Show full text]
  • Inseparable Interplay Between Poetry and Picture in Blake's Multimedia Art
    PETER HEATH All Text and No Image Makes Blake a Dull Artist: Inseparable Interplay Between Poetry and Picture in Blake's Multimedia Art W.J.T. Mitchell opens his book Blake's Composite Art by saying that “it has become superfluous to argue that Blake's poems need to be read with their accompanying illustrations” (3); in his mind, the fact that Blake's work consists of both text and image is obvious, and he sets out to define when and how the two media function independently of one another. However, an appraisal of prominent anthologies like The Norton Anthology of English Literature and Duncan Wu's Romanticism shows that Mitchell's sentiment is not universal, as these collections display Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience as primarily poetic texts, and include the illuminated plates for very few of the works.1 These seldom-presented pictorial accompaniments suggests that the visual aspect is secondary; 1 The Longman Anthology of British Literature features more of Blake's illuminations than the Norton and Romanticism, including art for ten of Blake's Songs. It does not include all of the “accompanying illustrations,” however, suggesting that the Longman editors still do not see the images as essential. at the EDGE http://journals.library.mun.ca/ate Volume 1 (2010) 93 clearly anthology editors, who are at least partially responsible for constructing canons for educational institutions, do not agree with Mitchell’s notion that we obviously must (and do) read Blake’s poems and illuminations together. Mitchell rationalizes the segregated study of Blake by suggesting that his “composite art is, to some extent, not an indissoluble unity, but an interaction between two vigorously independent modes of expression” (3), a statement that in fact undoes itself.
    [Show full text]
  • Blake's Critique of Enlightenment Reason in the Four Zoas
    Colby Quarterly Volume 19 Issue 4 December Article 3 December 1983 Blake's Critique of Enlightenment Reason in The Four Zoas Michael Ackland Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Library Quarterly, Volume 19, no.4, December 1983, p.173-189 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. Ackland: Blake's Critique of Enlightenment Reason in The Four Zoas Blake's Critique of Enlightenment Reason in The Four Zoas by MICHAEL ACKLAND RIZEN is at once one of Blake's most easily recognizable characters U and one of his most elusive. Pictured often as a grey, stern, hover­ ing eminence, his wide-outspread arms suggest oppression, stultifica­ tion, and limitation. He is the cruel, jealous patriarch of this world, the Nobodaddy-boogey man-god evoked to quieten the child, to still the rabble, to repress the questing intellect. At other times in Blake's evolv­ ing mythology he is an inferior demiurge, responsible for this botched and fallen creation. In political terms, he can project the repressive, warmongering spirit of Pitt's England, or the collective forces of social tyranny. More fundamentally, he is a personal attribute: nobody's daddy because everyone creates him. As one possible derivation of his name suggests, he is "your horizon," or those impulses in each of us which, through their falsely assumed authority, limit all man's other capabilities. Yet Urizen can, at times, earn our grudging admiration.
    [Show full text]
  • The Symbol of Christ in the Poetry of William Blake
    The symbol of Christ in the poetry of William Blake Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Nemanic, Gerald, 1941- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 01/10/2021 18:11:13 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/317898 THE SYMBOL OF CHRIST IN THE POETRY OF WILLIAM BLAKE Gerald Carl Neman!e A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the 3 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1965 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the. Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. APPROVAL. BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: TABLE OF COITENTS INTRODUCTION.
    [Show full text]
  • Rabbi Freeman, Rabbi Erlanger and Rabbi Jakubowicz Ari Aragon and Family לכבוד חברי הכולל החשובים מחברי ומלקטי החידו”ת בספר זו
    לע”נ בן ציון בן אהרן משפחת היימן Dedicated by Joshua and Melissa Close in honor of their chavrusos at the Kollel In honor of all the editors, especially Rabbi Zions, Rabbi Freeman, Rabbi Erlanger and Rabbi Jakubowicz Ari Aragon and family לכבוד חברי הכולל החשובים מחברי ומלקטי החידו”ת בספר זו מאת אליעזר קראוס ומשפחתו In honor of all the lomdei Torah of the Denver Kollel Chaim and Rivky Sher Scroll K Vaad Hakashrus of Denver לע”נ ישראל יעקב בן שאול יצחק In memory of our dear friend Yisrael Yaakov ben Shaul Yitzchak In honor of Rabbi Freeman and his dedicated work on behalf of this sefer, the Kollel and the Denver Jewish Community The Robbins Family מתוך רגשי הכרת הטוב והערצה לידידי היקרים, ראשי וחברי הכולל מאז הוסדה ולתומכי הכולל במשך כל השנים. חילכם לאורייתא יחיאל ארלנגר ומשפחתו לע”נ אלישבע מרים ע”ה בת ר’ מרדכי יהודה נ”י משפחת אמזל Jewell Dental Care, PLLC Steven A. Castillo DOS 6565 W. Jewell Ave. Suite #9 Lakewood, CO 80232 303-922-1103 Providing Comprehensive Dental Care and Assistance With Snoring in Mild and Moderate Sleep Apnea לע”נ יטל בת אלעזר אליהו הכהן ע”ה Mrs. Lucy Prenzlau In honor of Rabbi Freeman and Rabbi Zions for their tireless dedication on behalf of this publication שמואל הלפרין ומשפחתו In honor of the esteemed Roshei Kollel Rav Shachne Sommers and Rav Aron Yehuda Schwab Yaakov and Chaya Meyer Sefer Al Hahar Hazeh 1 We are excited to present to you Al Hahar Hazeh, a collection of Torah thoughts from Kollel members of the past twenty years.
    [Show full text]
  • New Risen from the Grave: Nineteen Unknown Watercolors by William Blake
    ARTICLE New Risen from the Grave: Nineteen Unknown Watercolors by William Blake Martin Butlin Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 35, Issue 3, Winter 2002, pp. 68-73 Cromek. Suffice it to say that John Flaxman, in a letter of 18 ARTICLES October 1805, wrote that "Mr. Cromak has employed Blake to make a set of 40 drawings from Blair's poem of the Grave New Risen from the Grave: 20 of which he proposes [to] have engraved by the Designer ..." (Bentley (2001) 279). Blake himself, in a letter to Will- Nineteen Unknown Watercolors iam Hayley of 27 November 1805, wrote that about two by William Blake months earlier "my Friend Cromek" had come "to me de- siring to have some of my Designs, he namd his Price & wishd me to Produce him Illustrations to The Grave A Poem BY MARTIN BUTLIN by Robert Blair, in consequence of this I produced about twenty Designs which pleasd so well that he with the same hat is certainly the most exciting Blake discovery since liberality with which he set me about the Drawings, has now WI began work on the artist, and arguably the most set me to Engrave them."2 Cromek, in the first version of important since Blake began to be appreciated in the sec- his Prospectus, dated November 1805, advertised "A NEW AND ond half of the nineteenth century, started in a deceptively ELEGANT EDITION OF BLAIR'S GRAVE, ILLUSTRATED WITH FIFTEEN low-key way. A finished watercolor for the engraving of "The PRINTS FROM DESIGNS INVENTED AND TO BE ENGAVED BY WILLIAM Soul Hovering over the Body," published in Robert Cromek's BLAKE ..
    [Show full text]
  • William Blake 1 William Blake
    William Blake 1 William Blake William Blake William Blake in a portrait by Thomas Phillips (1807) Born 28 November 1757 London, England Died 12 August 1827 (aged 69) London, England Occupation Poet, painter, printmaker Genres Visionary, poetry Literary Romanticism movement Notable work(s) Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Four Zoas, Jerusalem, Milton a Poem, And did those feet in ancient time Spouse(s) Catherine Blake (1782–1827) Signature William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language".[1] His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".[2] In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.[3] Although he lived in London his entire life except for three years spent in Felpham[4] he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God",[5] or "Human existence itself".[6] Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings William Blake 2 and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic",[7] for its large appearance in the 18th century.
    [Show full text]
  • Issues; Special Rate for Individuals, $4 for One Year; Overseas by Air, $8 (U.S
    A HANDLIST WORKS BY WILLIAM BLAKE IN THE i DEPARTMENT OF PRINTS & DRAWINGS THE BRITISH MUSEUM S\\ ' /■ . Jc*& TABLE OF CONTENTS WITH PREFACE 223 TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 224 SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 224 PARTI: MISCELLANEOUS (7 \ NOTES BY DRAWINGS AND SKETCHES 225 A PART 2: DESIGNS FOR YOUNG'S G. E. BENTLEY, JR. NIGHT THOUGHTS 229 PART 3: MISCELLANEOUS ENGRAVINGS 234 «■ PART 4: ILLUMINATED BOOKS 244 PART 5: REPRODUCTIONS 251 'rm PART 6: APPENDICES 254 INDEX 257 Copyright W 1972 by Morton D. Paley and Morris Eaves /f V / \ Tx ( BLAKE NEWSLETTER AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY Volume 5, Number 4, Whole Number 20, Spring 1972. Pub• lished quarterly under the sponsorship of the Department of English of the University of New Mexico. Support for bibliographical assistance is provided by the University of California, Berkeley. Morton D. Paley, Executive Editor, University of Cali• fornia, Berkeley; Morris Eaves, Managing Editor, Univer• sity of New Mexico; Michael Phillips, Associate Editor, University of Edinburgh; Jo Ann Kottke, Editorial Assis• tant* University of New Mexico; Foster Foreman, Bibliog• rapher , University of California, Berkeley. Manuscripts are welcome. They should be typed and documented according to the forms recommended in The MLA Style Sheet, 2nd ed., rev. (1970). Send two copies with a stamped, self-addressed envelope either to Morton D. Paley, Executive Editor, Blake Newsletter, Department of English, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, or to Morris Eaves, Managing Editor, Blake Newsletter, Department of English, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106. Subscriptions are $5 for one year, four issues; special rate for individuals, $4 for one year; overseas by air, $8 (U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Binary Domination and Bondage: Blake's Representations of Race
    Binary Domination and Bondage: Blake’s Representations of Race, Nationalism, and Gender Katherine Calvin Submitted to the Department of English, Vanderbilt University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Major, April 17, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………..………………………1 I. Blake’s Theory and Technique…………………….…………………………………..3 II. Revealing (and Contesting) the Racial Binary in Blake’s “The Little Black Boy”.......14 III. Colonization, Revolution, and the Consequences in America, A Prophecy …...……..33 IV. Gender and Rhetoric in Visions of the Daughters of Albion …………………..…..…63 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….90 Selected Bibliography……………………………………………………...………….93 Introduction “Thy soft American plains are mine and mine thy north and south/ Stampt with my signet are the swarthy children of the sun.”1 In William Blake’s Visions of the Daughters of Albion, the rapist Bromion decries his victim Oothoon on the basis of three conflated identities: race, colonial status, and gender. With his seed already sown in her womb, he pledges that her “swarthy” offspring will bear not only his genetic signet but also labor in subservience to him, the colonial master. Bromion himself encompasses everything Oothoon is not—he is a white male in the act of colonization while she is a female lashed to the identity of America, which is ethnically and politically subservient. Written in an age of burgeoning political and social radicalism, Visions nonetheless fails to conclude with the triumphant victory of Oothoon,
    [Show full text]