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William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience: from Innocence to Experience to Wise Innocence Robert W
Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1977 William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience: From Innocence to Experience to Wise Innocence Robert W. Winkleblack Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Winkleblack, Robert W., "William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience: From Innocence to Experience to Wise Innocence" (1977). Masters Theses. 3328. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3328 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PAPER CERTIFICATE #2 TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. �S"Date J /_'117 Author I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because ��--��- Date Author pdm WILLIAM BLAKE'S SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE: - FROM INNOCENCE TO EXPERIENCE TO WISE INNOCENCE (TITLE) BY Robert W . -
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). -
William Blake's “The Little Vagabond” and Organized Religion
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(2) Mar-Apr 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/ William Blake’s “The Little Vagabond” and Organized Religion Sun Shuting English Department, North China Electric Power University, China Abstract—This article is an analysis of William Blake’s poem “The Little Vagabond” from the angle of Blake’s views on organized religion. The article identifies three main themes of the poem; happiness, the sacred and the profane and assesses the tension between them. The article assesses the tension between these three in the poem to show Blake’s criticism of organized religion, later developed in his prophetic books. The little vagabond unwittingly identifies a dichotomy of organized religion in its inability to combine happiness with the sacred. Its strictures against happiness make happiness profane. As happiness is exiled to only keep company with the profane, the boy innocently suggests making the sacred the profane. Blake develops these ideas in molding his character of Urizon, the cold lawgiver, father of stern and somber organized religion. Keywords— Christianity, organized religion, Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Little Vagabond, William Blake. I. INTRODUCTION of the poems also hint at the vulnerability of Innocence and “The Little Vagabond” is a William Blake poem of 1794. It the dangerous encroachment of the world of Experience on appears in his Songs of Innocence and Experience, a its simple joys. These poems are usually accompanied by compendium of two poetry anthologies. This book illustrations of bucolic harmony. Experience corresponds appeared in two phases. At first Songs of Innocence to the Fallen world of division and hostility, which arises in appeared in 1789 on its own with Blake illuminating and the rule-governed, cold world of scientific objectivity. -
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. -
Blake's Debt to Wollstonecraft in the Four Zoas
ARTICLE The Embattled Sexes: Blake’s Debt to Wollstonecraft in The Four Zoas Michael Ackland Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 3, Winter 1982/1983, pp. 172-183 PAGE 172 BLAKE AS ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY WINTER 1982-83 The Embattled Sexes: Blake's Debt to Wollstonecraft in The Four Zoas BY MICHAEL ACKLAND Our knowledge of Blake's acquaintance with the writings of with them to Wollstonecraft's conception of female poten- Mary Wollstonecraft is at once precise and frustratingly in- tial. Moreover, these ideas are further developed in The complete. We know he illustrated, and presumably also Four Zoas, where many crucial conceptual links between the read, her novel Original Stories from Real Life.' We also works of Blake and Wollstonecraft testify to the enduring have evidence in his earlier works, notably in Visions of the impact on him of her impassioned call for harmony, equali- Daughters of Albion, that he was influenced by the doc- ty and true friendship between the sexes. trines she expressed in Vindication of the Rights of Men Visions of the Daughters of Albion offers evidence not (1790) and Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).2 only of Blake's debt to Wollstonecraft but, more important- Moreover, both writers were frequent visitors at the booksel- ly, of his capacity to assimilate her ideas into his evolving cos- ler and publisher Joseph Johnson in the early 1790s; and mology. As commentators have noted, Oothoon's descrip- would, at the very least, have been known to each through tion of the negative and positive roles open to her sex seems word of mouth. -
David Punter, Ed., William Blake: Selected Poetry and Prose
REVIEW Stanley Kunitz, ed., The Essential Blake; Michael Mason, ed., William Blake; David Punter, ed., William Blake: Selected Poetry and Prose E. B. Murray Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 24, Issue 4, Spring 1991, pp. 145-153 Spring 1991 BLAKE/AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY Not so the Oxford Authors and Rout- As we know, and contrary to Mason's ledge Blakes. They do have some pre- implications, Blake felt his illumina- REVIEWS tensions and they may not be tions an integral part of his composite altogether harmless. Michael Mason is art, going so far as to applaud himself initially concerned with telling us what (in the third person) for having in- he does not do in his edition. He does vented "a method of Printing which Stanley Kunitz, ed. The Es not include An Island in the Moon, The combines the Painter and Poet" and, in sential Blake. New York: Book of Ahania, or The FourZoas. He an earlier self-evaluation, he bluntly The Ecco Press, 1987. 92 does not follow a chronological order asserts, through a persona, that those pp. $5.00 paper; Michael in presenting Blake's texts; he does not (pace Mason) who will not accept and Mason, ed. William Blake. provide deleted or alternative read- pay highly for the illuminated writings ings; he does not provide the illumina- he projected "will be ignorant fools Oxford: Oxford University tions or describe them; he does not and will not deserve to live." Ipse dixit. Press, 1988. xxvi + 601 pp. summarize the content of Blake's works The poet/artist is typically seconded $45.00 cloth/$15.95 paper; nor does he explicate Blake's mythol- by his twentieth-century editors, who, David Punter, ed. -
Issues) and Begin with the Summer Issue
AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY VOLUME 30 NUMBER 4 SPRING 1997 &}UB AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY VOLUME 30 NUMBER 4 SPRING 1997 CONTENTS Articles Blake in the Marketplace, 1996 by Robert N. Essick 100 William Blake and His Circle: A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 1996 by G. E. Bentley, Jr. With the Assistance ofKeiko Aoyama for Japanese Publications 121 CONTRIBUTORS SUBSCRIPTIONS are $50 for institutions, $25 for individuals. All subscriptions are by the volume (1 year, 4 issues) and begin with the summer issue. Subscription payments re• G. E. BENTLEY, JR., now retired from the University of ceived after the summer issue will be applied to the 4 is• Toronto, compiled this checklist at Durham University, put sues of the current volume. Foreign addresses (except it into final form in Beijing, and corrected the proofs at the Canada and Mexico) require an $8 per volume postal sur• Australian Defence Force Academy. He is now completing charge for surface, an $18 per volume surcharge for air a biography of William Blake. mail delivery. U.S. currency or international money or• der necessary. Make checks payable to Blake/An Illustrated ROBERT N. ESSICK, Professor of English, University of Cali• Quarterly. Address all subscription orders and related com• fornia, Riverside, has been writing sales reviews for this munications to Patricia Neill, Blake, Department of En• journal for 25 years. glish, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627. BACK ISSUES are available at a reduced price. Address Patricia Neill for a list of issues and prices. EDITORS MANUSCRIPTS are welcome. Send two copies, typed and EDITORS: Morris Eaves and Morton D. -
William Blake the Book of Urizen London, Ca
® about this book O William Blake The Book of Urizen London, ca. 1818 ➤ Commentary by Nicolas Barker ➤ Binding & Collation ➤ Provenance ©2001 Octavo. All rights reserved. The Book of Urizen Commentary by Nicolas Barker The Book of Urizen, originally entitled The First Book of Urizen, occupies a central place in William Blake’s creation of his “illuminated books,” both chronologically and in the thematic and structural development of the texts. They are not “illuminated” in the sense that medieval manuscripts are illu- minated—that is, with pictures or decoration added to an exist- ing text. In Blake’s books, text and decoration were conceived together and the printing process, making and printing the plates, did not separate them, although he might vary the colors from copy to copy, adding supplemen- tary coloring as well. Like the books themselves, the technique for making them came to Blake by inspiration, connected with his much-loved younger brother Robert, whose early death in 1787 deeply distressed William, though his “visionary eyes beheld the released spirit ascend heaven- ward through the matter-of-fact Plate 26 of The Book of Urizen, copy G (ca. 1818). ceiling, ‘clapping its hands for joy.’” The process was described by his fellow- engraver John Thomas Smith, who had known Robert as a boy: After deeply perplexing himself as to the mode of accomplishing the publication of his illustrated songs, without their being subject to the expense of letter-press, his brother Robert stood before him in one of his visionary imaginations, and so decidedly directed him in the way in which he ought to proceed, that he immediately fol- lowed his advice, by writing his poetry, and drawing his marginal subjects of embellishments in outline upon the copperplate with an impervious liquid, and then eating the plain parts or lights away William Blake The Book of Urizen London, ca. -
William Blake
THE WORKS of WILLIAM BLAKE jSptfrolu, tmir dpritical KDITEO WITH LITHOORAPIIS OF THE ILLUSTRATED “ PROPHETIC BOOKS," AND A M8 M0 IH AND INTERPRETATION EDWIN JOHN ELLIS A ttlh n r n f “Miff »ii A rcatliit,** rfr* Asn WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Author of ** The JVnnilerinfj* nf Ohin,** " The Crwutesi Kathleen," ifr. “ Hnng nin to the te»t Ami I Lh* m&ttor will iv-wnnl, which nmdnp** Would ftumlml from M Jfauttef /.V TUJIKE VOI.S. VOL 1 LONDON BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY 1893 \ A lt R ig h t* k *M*rv*ifl & 0 WILLIAM LINNELL THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED. PREFACE. The reader must not expect to find in this account of Blake's myth, or this explanation of his symbolic writings, a substitute for Blake's own works. A paraphrase is given of most of the more difficult poems, but no single thread of interpretation can fully guide the explorer through the intricate paths of a symbolism where most of the figures of speech have a two-fold meaning, and some are employed systematically in a three fold, or even a four-fold sense. " Allegory addressed to the intellectual powers while it is altogether hidden from the corporeal understanding is my definition," writes Blake, "of the most sublime poetry." Letter to Butts from Felpham, July 6th, 1803. Such allegory fills the "Prophetic Books," yet it is not so hiddon from the corporeal understanding as its author supposed. An explanation, continuous throughout, if not complete for side issues, may be obtained from the enigma itself by the aid of ordinary industry. -
William Blake (1757-1827)
A STROLL THROUGH TATE BRITAIN William Blake (1757-1827) This two-hour talk is part of a series of twenty talks on the works of art displayed in Tate Britain, London, in June 2017. Unless otherwise mentioned all works of art are at Tate Britain. References and Copyright • The talk is given to a small group of people and all the proceeds, after the cost of the hall is deducted, are given to charity. • Our sponsored charities are Save the Children and Cancer UK. • Unless otherwise mentioned all works of art are at Tate Britain and the Tate’s online notes, display captions, articles and other information are used. • Each page has a section called ‘References’ that gives a link or links to sources of information. • Wikipedia, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Khan Academy and the Art Story are used as additional sources of information. • The information from Wikipedia is under an Attribution-Share Alike Creative Commons License. • Other books and articles are used and referenced. • If I have forgotten to reference your work then please let me know and I will add a reference or delete the information. 1 A STROLL THROUGH TATE BRITAIN 1. The History of the Tate 2. From Absolute Monarch to Civil War, 1540-1650 3. From Commonwealth to the Georgians, 1650-1730 4. The Georgians, 1730-1780 5. Revolutionary Times, 1780-1810 6. Regency to Victorian, 1810-1840 7. William Blake 8. J. M. W. Turner 9. John Constable 10. The Pre-Raphaelites, 1840-1860 West galleries are 1540, 1650, 1730, 1760, 1780, 1810, 1840, 1890, 1900, 1910 East galleries are 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 Turner Wing includes Turner, Constable, Blake and Pre-Raphaelite drawings Agenda 1. -
William Blake ( 1757-1827)
William Blake ( 1757-1827) "And I made a rural pen, " "0 Earth. 0 Earth, returnl And I stained the water clear, "Arise from out the dewy grass. And J wrote my happy songs "Night is worn. Every child may joy to hear." "And the mom ("Introduction". Songs of Innocence) "Rises from the slumberous mass." ("Introduction''. Songs of Experience! 19 Chapter- 2 WILLIAM BLAKE "And I made a rural pen, And I stain'd the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Every child may joy to hear. "1 "Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, And the dews of night arise; Your spring and your day are wasted in play, · And your winter and night in disguise. "1 Recent researches have shown the special importance and significance of childhood in romantic poetry. Blake, being a harbinger of romanticism, had engraved childhood as a state of unalloyed joy in his Songs of Innocence. And among the romantics, be was perhaps the first to have discovered childhood. His inspiration was of course the Bible where he had seen the image of the innocent, its joy and all pure image of little, gentle Jesus. That image ignited the very ·imagination of Blake, the painter and engraver. And with his illuntined mind, he translated that image once more in his poetry, Songs of Innocence. Among the records of an early meeting of the Blake Society on 12th August, 1912 there occurs the following passage : 20 "A pleasing incident of the occasion was the presence of a very pretty robin, which hopped about unconcernedly on the terrace in front of the house and among the members while the papers were being read.. -
Blake's Poetry and Designs
A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION BLAKE'S POETRY AND DESIGNS ILLUMINATED WORKS OTHER WRITINGS CRITICISM Second. Edition Selected and Edited by MARY LYNN JOHNSON UNIVERSITY OF IOWA JOHN E. GRANT UNIVERSITY OF IOWA W • W • NORTON & COMPANY • New York • London Contents Preface to the Second Edition xi Introduction xiii Abbreviations xvii Note on Illustrations xix Color xix Black and White XX Key Terms XXV Illuminated Works 1 ALL RELIGIONS ARE ONE/THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION (1788) 3 All Religions Are One 5 There Is No Natural Religion 6 SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE (1789—94) 8 Songs of Innocence (1789) 11 Introduction 11 The Shepherd 13 The Ecchoing Green 13 The Lamb 15 The Little Black Boy 16 The Blossom 17 The Chimney Sweeper 18 The Little Boy Lost 18 The Little Boy Found 19 Laughing Song 19 A Cradle Song 20 The Divine Image 21 Holy Thursday 22 Night 23 Spring 24 Nurse's Song 25 Infant Joy 25 A Dream 26 On Anothers Sorrow 26 Songs of Experience (1793) 28 Introduction 28 Earth's Answer 30 The Clod & the Pebble 31 Holy Thursday 31 The Little Girl Lost 32 The Little Girl Found 33 vi CONTENTS The Chimney Sweeper 35 Nurses Song 36 The Sick Rose 36 The Fly 37 The Angel 38 The Tyger 38 My Pretty Rose Tree 39 Ah! Sun-Flower 39 The Lilly 40 The Garden of Love 40 The Little Vagabond 40 London 41 The Human Abstract 42 Infant Sorrow 43 A Poison Tree 43 A Little Boy Lost 44 A Little Girl Lost 44 To Tirzah 45 The School Boy 46 The Voice of the Ancient Bard 47 THE BOOK OF THEL (1789) 48 VISIONS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ALBION (1793) 55 THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL (1790) 66 AMERICA A PROPHECY (1793) 83 EUROPE A PROPHECY(1794) 96 THE SONG OF Los (1795) 107 Africa 108 Asia 110 THE BOOK OF URIZEN (1794) 112 THE BOOK OF AHANIA (1794) 130 THE BOOK OF LOS (1795) 138 MILTON: A POEM (1804; c.