DOCSLIB.ORG

Daniela Schwarcke Do Canto

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA MARIA CENTRO DE ARTES E LETRAS PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM LETRAS Daniela Schwarcke do Canto O CASAL GILCHRIST E A VIDA DE UM PINTOR DESCONHECIDO: O GÊNERO BIOGRAFIA E A RECEPÇÃO DA OBRA DE WILLIAM BLAKE NO SÉCULO 19 Santa Maria, RS 2015 Daniela Schwarcke do Canto O CASAL GILCHRIST E A VIDA DE UM PINTOR DESCONHECIDO: O GÊNERO BIOGRAFIA E A RECEPÇÃO DA OBRA DE WILLIAM BLAKE NO SÉCULO 19 Dissertação apresentada ao Curso de Mestrado do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Área de Concentração em Estudos Literários, da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM, RS), como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Literatura. Orientador: Prof. Dr. Enéias Farias Tavares Santa Maria, RS, Brasil 2015 Daniela Schwarcke do Canto O CASAL GILCHRIST E A VIDA DE UM PINTOR DESCONHECIDO: O GÊNERO BIOGRAFIA E A RECEPÇÃO DA OBRA DE WILLIAM BLAKE NO SÉCULO 19 Dissertação apresentada ao Curso de Mestrado do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Área de Concentração em Estudos Literários, da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM, RS), como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Literatura. Aprovado em 16 de dezembro de 2015: ________________________________________ Enéias Farias Tavares, Dr. (UFSM) (Presidente/Orientador) ________________________________________ Manuel José de Freitas Portela, Dr. (UC - Universidade de Coimbra ________________________________________ Juliana Steil, Dra. (UFPEL) Santa Maria, RS 2015 AGRADECIMENTOS À Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, responsável pela minha formação acadêmica e profissional. Ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, aos professores, que tiveram papel essencial na realização deste Mestrado, e em especial ao secretário e amigo Jandir. Aos professores Manuel Portela e Juliana Steil, pela disponibilidade e pelas importantes contribuições ao meu trabalho. Ao professor Michael Phillips, por suas pontuais orientações e pela “aula” de Blake em Oxford. Ao meu orientador, Enéias Tavares, por ter me apresentado ao “mundo maravilhoso de Blake”, por ter me proporcionado esse encontro fascinante com o casal Gilchrist, e, principalmente, pela dedicação, paciência e amizade. Aos meus colegas de trabalho e amigos, pelo apoio e pela torcida, em especial à Paula Cabrera, pela parceria e pela amizade nestes dois anos de mestrado e Leila Piccoli da Silva, pela ajuda no Lattes e pelas incontáveis "consultas técnicas” no decorrer da elaboração desta dissertação. Aos meus pais, Odilon e Suzana, meu porto seguro, pelo exemplo e pelo apoio incondicional. Ao meu esposo Edemilson, pela compreensão, pela paciência e por ter topado encarar o desafio do mestrado comigo. Aos meus filhos de barriga e de coração e minhas maiores inspirações: Camila, Rafael, Bettina e Leonardo, pela paciência nas ausências, por cuidarem uns dos outros, pela torcida e pelo carinho. RESUMO O CASAL GILCHRIST E A VIDA DE UM PINTOR DESCONHECIDO: O GÊNERO BIOGRAFIA E A RECEPÇÃO DA OBRA DE WILLIAM BLAKE NO SÉCULO 19 AUTORA: Daniela Schwarcke do Canto ORIENTADOR: Enéias Farias Tavares Esse trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a primeira biografia escrita sobre William Blake, biografia esta sonhada e pesquisada por Alexander Gilchrist e finalizada por sua esposa Anne Gilchrist e pelo pintor e também escritor Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Considerado um gênio louco que falava com os espíritos por grande parte de seus contemporâneos, é apenas após sua morte, em 1827, que William Blake passa a ser reconhecido por suas obras como poeta, pintor e gravurista. Em um primeiro momento, é apresentada uma curta biografia de Alexander Gilchrist e das pessoas que colaboraram com a escrita da biografia Life of William Blake: Pictor Ignotus. No segundo capítulo, é feita uma análisedo que Gilchrist escreveu sobre o lado técnico de Blake, sua educação e seus estudos. O terceiro capítulo trata do Blake visionário, e como estes episódios são retratados na biografia em questão. Já o último capítulo faz um comparativo entre o que Gilchrist escreve de Blake com o que pode ser encontrado nos autores anteriores a ele, como Cunningham, J. T. Smith, Malkin, Tatham e Crabb Robinson, chegando assim a uma hipótese de quais os autores acima citados serviram como fontes para a escrita de Life of William Blake: Pictor Ignotus. Palavras-chave: Gravurista. Visionário. Poeta. Blake. Biografia. ABSTRACT THE GILCHRISTS AND THE LIFE OF AN UNKNOWN PAINTER: THE BIOGRAPHY GENRE AND THE RECEPTION OF WILLIAM BLAKE’S WORKS IN THE 19TH CENTURY AUTHOR: DANIELA SCHWARCKE DO CANTO ADVISOR: ENÉIAS FARIAS TAVARES This study has as main objective to analyze the biography of William Blake: dreamed and researched by Alexander Gilchrist and finished by his wife Anne Gilchrist and by the painter and writer Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Considered a mad genius that talked to spirits by a great part of his contemporaries, William Blake became known only after his death, in 1827, for his works as a poet, painter and engraver. In a first moment, a short biography of Alexander Gilchristis presented, as well as of the others involved in the writing of the biography Life of William Blake: Pictor Ignotus. In the second chapter, an analysis is conducted on what Gilchrist wrote about Blake’s technical side and his educational background. The third chapter is about the visionary Blake, and how these episodes are portrayed in the Gilchrist’s biography. In the last chapter, a parallelis traced between what Alexander Gilchrist wrote in his biography and what five authors before him wrote on Blake. These authors are: Cunningham, J. T. Smith, Malkin, Tatham and Crabb Robinson. In this way, we intend to reach a hypothesis on which authors were used as sources by Gilchrist to write Life of William Blake: Pictor Ignotus. Key words: Engraver. Visionary. Poet. Blake. Biography. LISTA DE FIGURAS Figura 1 - Alexander Gilchrist .................................................................................................. 20 Figura 2 - Anne Gilchrist .......................................................................................................... 30 Figura 3 - Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1871, by George Frederic Watts ...................... 39 Figura 4 - William Michael Rossetti ........................................................................................ 44 Figura 5 - Edward and Eleanor, 1793. Gravura de William Blake. ......................................... 53 Figura 6 - Joseph of Arimathea Among the Rocks of Albion, Gravura de W. Blake, 1773. ..... 56 Figura 7 - War Unchained by an Angel, Fire, Pestilence and Famine Following. 1784. ......... 66 Figura 8 - A Breach in a City the Morning after the Battle, 1784. ........................................... 66 Figura 9 - Songs of Innocence and of Experience. “The Tyger”. ............................................ 72 Figura 10 - The Inventions of the Book of Job. Lâmina II. ...................................................... 78 Figura 11 - Visionary Heads of William Wallace & Edward I, por William Blake. ............... 96 SUMÁRIO INTRODUÇÃO ........................................................................................................................ 9 1 LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE: PICTOR IGNOTUS. A BIOGRAFIA DA BIOGRAFIA ........................................................................................................................... 17 1.1 A BIOGRAFIA DE UM ESCRITOR - ALEXANDER GILCHRIST ............................... 17 1.2 A BIOGRAFIA DE UMA REDATORA - ANNE GILCHRIST ....................................... 22 1.3 A BIOGRAFIA DE UM COLECIONADOR - DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ............. 30 1.4 A BIOGRAFIA DE UM CRÍTICO–WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI ......................... 39 2 O MESTRE GRAVURISTA .............................................................................................. 45 2.1 A FORMAÇÃO DE UM GRAVURISTA COM POUCOS RECURSOS (1757-1782) ... 45 2.2 A CRIAÇÃO DE UM MÉTODO DE IMPRESSÃO (1782-1795) .................................... 65 2.3 O GRAVURISTA PROFISSIONAL (1795-1828) ............................................................ 72 3 BLAKE VISIONÁRIO ....................................................................................................... 81 3.1 PRIMEIRAS VISÕES (1757-1782) ................................................................................... 81 3.2 A CRIAÇÃO DOS LIVROS ILUMINADOS (1782-1793) .............................................. 85 3.3 UM ARTISTA ESPIRITUAL (1793-1828) ....................................................................... 89 4 ANALISANDO GILCHRIST: A CRIAÇÃO DO PERSONAGEM BLAKE ................ 99 4.1 ELEMENTOS DE LIFE OF BLAKE, DE GILCHRIST .................................................. 101 4.2 O PROCESSO EDITORIAL DE GILCHRIST E SUA RELAÇÃO COM AS FONTES ................................................................................................................................................ 105 CONCLUSÃO ....................................................................................................................... 115 REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS ............................................................................... 117 ANEXO A - TABELA .......................................................................................................... 119 9 INTRODUÇÃO Biografia vem do grego bio, que significa vida, e grafia, que significa escrita. Como gênero literário, a biografia é uma narração da história da vida de alguém, geralmente narrada na terceira pessoa. Apesar da palavra “biografia”
Recommended publications
  • Entre Classicismo E Romantismo. Ensaios De Cultura E Literatura

    Entre Classicismo E Romantismo. Ensaios De Cultura E Literatura

    Entre Classicismo e Romantismo. Ensaios de Cultura e Literatura Organização Jorge Bastos da Silva Maria Zulmira Castanheira Studies in Classicism and Romanticism 2 FLUP | CETAPS, 2013 Studies in Classicism and Romanticism 2 Studies in Classicism and Romanticism is an academic series published on- line by the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS) and hosted by the central library of the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. Studies in Classicism and Romanticism has come into being as a result of the commitment of a group of scholars who are especially interested in English literature and culture from the mid-seventeenth to the mid- nineteenth century. The principal objective of the series is the publication in electronic format of monographs and collections of essays, either in English or in Portuguese, with no pre-established methodological framework, as well as the publication of relevant primary texts from the period c. 1650–c. 1850. Series Editors Jorge Bastos da Silva Maria Zulmira Castanheira Entre Classicismo e Romantismo. Ensaios de Cultura e Literatura Organização Jorge Bastos da Silva Maria Zulmira Castanheira Studies in Classicism and Romanticism 2 FLUP | CETAPS, 2013 Editorial 2 Sumário Apresentação 4 Maria Luísa Malato Borralho, “Metamorfoses do Soneto: Do «Classicismo» ao «Romantismo»” 5 Adelaide Meira Serras, “Science as the Enlightened Route to Paradise?” 29 Paula Rama-da-Silva, “Hogarth and the Role of Engraving in Eighteenth-Century London” 41 Patrícia Rodrigues, “The Importance of Study for Women and by Women: Hannah More’s Defence of Female Education as the Path to their Patriotic Contribution” 56 Maria Leonor Machado de Sousa, “Sugestões Portuguesas no Romantismo Inglês” 65 Maria Zulmira Castanheira, “O Papel Mediador da Imprensa Periódica na Divulgação da Cultura Britânica em Portugal ao Tempo do Romantismo (1836-1865): Matérias e Imagens” 76 João Paulo Ascenso P.
  • !V(-Q WALT WHITMAN

    !V(-Q WALT WHITMAN

    !v(-q v( THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF WALT WHITMAN AN EXHIBIT FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF MRS. FRANK JULIAN SPRAGUE OF NEW YORK CITY 4 I A LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS, BOOKS, PORTRAITS, PRINTS, BROADSIDES, AND MEMORABILIA LI IN COMMEMORATION OF THE One Hundredand Twentieth Anniversary OF THE BIRTH OF WALT WHITMAN [MAY 31, 1819-19391 FROM THE WHITMAN COLLECTION OF MRS. FRANK JULIAN SPRAGUE OF NEW YORK CITY I EXHIBITED AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1939'3 FOREWORD ti[THE YEAR 1939 marks the one hundred and twentieth anni- versary of the birth of Walt Whitman. As part of the celebration of that anniversary, the Library of Congress exhibited a collection of material from the magnificent Walt Whitman collection as- sembled over a period of twenty-five years by Mrs. Frank Julian Sprague, of New York City. This material was selected and pre- pared for exhibition by Dr. Joseph Auslander, Consultant in Poetry in the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is unwilling that this exhibit should terminate without some record which may serve as an expression of its gratitude to Mrs. Sprague for her generosity in making the display possible and a witness to its appreciation of Mrs. Sprague's great service to American poetry and to the American tradition of which Walt Whitman is not only the poet but the symbol. Many of the books in Mrs. Sprague's collection are unique, some are in mint condition, none is unopened. The greater part of the collection, including the two paintings which were done from life, has never before been exhibited to the great American public for which Whitman wrote and by which he is remembered.
  • Charlotte Smith, William Cowper, and William Blake: Some New Documents

    Charlotte Smith, William Cowper, and William Blake: Some New Documents

    ARTICLE Charlotte Smith, William Cowper, and William Blake: Some New Documents James King Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 13, Issue 2, Fall 1979, pp. 100-101 100 CHARLOTTE SMITH, WILLIAM COWPER, AND WILLIAM BLAKE: SOME NEW DOCUMENTS JAMES KING lthough her reputation is somewhat diminished Rose, of 25 April 1806 (Huntington)." As before, now, Charlotte Smith was the most celebrated Mrs. Smith is complaining about Hayley's neglect of A novelist in England in the early 1790s. Like her. George Romney, John Flaxman, William Cowper, and William Blake, Mrs. Smith was one of a number of I lose a great part of the regret I might writers and painters assisted by William Hayley in otherwise feel in recollecting, that a various ways. Mrs. Smith met Cowper at Eartham in mind so indiscriminating, who is now 1792, and the events of that friendship have been seized with a rage for a crooked figure= chronicled.1 Mrs. Smith never met William Blake, and maker & now for an engraver of Ballad only one excerpt from a letter linking them has pictures (the young Mans tragedy; & the previously been published. In this note, I should jolly Sailers Farewell to his true love Sally) —I dont mean the Hayleyan like to provide some additional information on Mrs. 5 Smith and Cowper, but I shall as well cite three collection of pretty ballads) —Such a unpublished excerpts from her correspondence in mind, can never be really attached; or which she comments on Blake. is the attachment it can feel worth having — In an article of 1952, Alan Dugald McKillop provided a n excellent account of Charlotte Smith's The "crooked figure=maker" is probably a reference letters.2 In the course of that essay, McKilloD to Flaxman and his hunch-back; despite the notes a facetiou s and denigrating remark of 20 March disclaimer, the engraver is more than likely to be 1806 (Hunt ington) about Hayley's Designs to a Series Blake.
  • Gilchrist Family Papers Ms

    Gilchrist Family Papers Ms

    Gilchrist Family papers Ms. Coll. 116 Finding aid prepared by Donna Brandolisio. Last updated on April 15, 2020. University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts 1992 Gilchrist Family papers Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 8 Administrative Information........................................................................................................................... 8 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................9 Collection Inventory.................................................................................................................................... 10 Correspondence and writings................................................................................................................ 10 Miscellaneous memorabilia................................................................................................................... 14 Diaries of Grace Gilchrist....................................................................................................................
  • William Blake 1 William Blake

    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 Books, Contributed Immeasurably to the Understanding and Appreciation of the Enormous Range of Blake’S Works

    Blake Books, Contributed Immeasurably to the Understanding and Appreciation of the Enormous Range of Blake’S Works

    B L A K E B O O K S The Commercial Engravings of William Blake A Tribute to Gerald E. Bentley, Jr. February 2018 presented by J O H N W I N D L E A N T I Q U A R I A N B O O K S E L L E R T H E W I L L I A M B L A K E G A L L E R Y B L A K E B O O K S The Commercial Engravings of William Blake A Tribute to Gerald E. Bentley, Jr. February 2018 Blake is best known today for his independent vision and experimental methods, yet he made his living as a commercial illustrator. This exhibition shines a light on those commissioned illustrations and the surprising range of books in which they appeared. In them we see his extraordinary versatility as an artist but also flashes of his visionary self—flashes not always appreciated by his publishers. On display are the books themselves, objects that are far less familiar to his admirers today, but that have much to say about Blake the artist. The exhibition is a small tribute to Gerald E. Bentley, Jr. (1930 – 2017), whose scholarship, including the monumental bibliography, Blake Books, contributed immeasurably to the understanding and appreciation of the enormous range of Blake’s works. J O H N W I N D L E A N T I Q U A R I A N B O O K S E L L E R 49 Geary Street, Suite 205, San Francisco, CA 94108 www.williamblakegallery.com www.johnwindle.com 415-986-5826 - 2 - B L A K E B O O K S : C O M M E R C I A L I L L U S T R A T I O N Allen, Charles.
  • Charlotte Smith’S Own Death

    Charlotte Smith’S Own Death

    Charlotte (Turner) Smith (1749-1806) by Ruth Facer Soon after I was 11 years old, I was removed to London, to an house where there were no books...But I found out by accident a circulating library; and, subscribing out of my own pocket money, unknown to the relation with whom I lived, I passed the hours destined to repose, in running through all the trash it contained. My head was full of Sir Charles, Sir Edwards, Lord Belmonts, and Colonel Somervilles, while Lady Elizas and Lady Aramintas, with many nymphs of inferior rank, but with names equally beautiful, occupied my dreams.[1] As she ran through the ‘trash’ of the circulating library, little could the eleven-year Charlotte Turner have imagined that she was to become one of the best-known poets and novelists of the late eighteenth century. In all, she was to write eleven novels, three volumes of poetry, four educational books for young people, a natural history of birds, and a history of England. Charlotte was born in 1749 to Nicholas Turner, a well-to-do country gentleman, and his wife, Anna. Her early years were spent at Stoke Place, near Guildford in Surrey and Bignor Park on the Arun in Sussex. The idyllic landscape of the South Downs was well known to her and was to recur in her novels and poetry time and again: Spring’s dewy hand on this fair summit weaves The downy grass, with tufts of Alpine flowers, And shades the beechen slopes with tender leaves, And leads the Shepherd to his upland bowers, Strewn with wild thyme; while slow-descending showers, Feed the green ear, and nurse the future sheaves! Sonnet XXXI (written in Farm Wood, South Downs in May 1784) Sadly this idyllic life was to end abruptly with the death of Anna Turner, leaving the four-year old Charlotte to be brought up by her aunt Lucy in London.
  • Gilchrist Family Papers Ms

    Gilchrist Family Papers Ms

    Gilchrist Family papers Ms. Coll. 116 Finding aid prepared by Donna Brandolisio. Last updated on April 15, 2020. University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts 1992 Gilchrist Family papers Table of Contents Summary Information...................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History.........................................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents.......................................................................................................................................7 Administrative Information...........................................................................................................................7 Controlled Access Headings......................................................................................................................... 8 Collection Inventory..................................................................................................................................... 9 Correspondence and writings..................................................................................................................9 Miscellaneous memorabilia.................................................................................................................. 13 Diaries of Grace Gilchrist....................................................................................................................
  • William Cowper and George Romney: Public and Private Men Joan Addison

    William Cowper and George Romney: Public and Private Men Joan Addison

    William Cowper and George Romney: Public and Private Men Joan Addison It was at Eartham, William Hayley’s Sussex home, in August 1792, that William Cowper met the artist George Romney. In the previous May, Hayley, benefactor of artists and admirer of Cowper, had made his first visit to the poet at Weston. During his visit, he had written to his old friend Romney, suggesting such a meeting. His intention, he wrote in his Life of George Romney, was ‘to enliven [him] with a prospect of sharing with me the intellectual banquet of Cowper’s conversation by meeting him at Eartham’. When the meeting did take place, Hayley’s prediction that the two men would enjoy each other’s company proved correct. ‘Equally quick, and tender, in their feelings’, Hayley wrote, ‘they were peculiarly formed to relish the different but congenial talents, that rendered each an object of affectionate admiration’1. The pleasure that the poet and the painter shared in each other’s company was to result in the production of two notable creations, the portrait Romney made of Cowper during the visit to Eartham, and Cowper’s subsequent sonnet, written to Romney in appreciation of his work. ‘Romney,’ Hayley wrote, was ‘eager to execute a portrait of a person so remarkable’, and worked quickly in crayons to produce it.2 An intimate study of Cowper in informal garb, it is now in the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait, twenty-two and a half by eighteen inches, shows the upper part of Cowper’s body, against a brown background.
  • William Blake Henry Fuseli Auckland City Art Gallery

    William Blake Henry Fuseli Auckland City Art Gallery

    WILLIAM BLAKE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOOK OF JOB HENRY FUSELI THE THREE WITCHES OF MACBETH AND ASSOCIATED WORKS AUCKLAND CITY ART GALLERY AUGUST 8 - OCTOBER 2 1980 WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) As poet, watercolourist and engraver, Blake was the creator of an idiosyncratic mythology. Born of a lower middle class merchant family, Blake had no academic training, but attended Henry Par's preparatory drawing school from 1767 until his apprenticeship in 1772 to James Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. At Westminster Abbey,Blake made drawings for Gough's Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain (1786), thereby immersing himself in the mediaeval tradition, with which he found a spiritual affinity. In 1782 Blake married and moved to Leicester Fields in London, where he completed and published in 1783 his first work, Poetical Sketches. In these early years he developed lasting friendships with the painters Barry, Fuseli and Flaxman, and for a while shared Flaxman's preoccupation with classical art. For his next major publication, Songs of Innocence, completed in 1789, Blake invented a new engraving technique whereby lyrics and linear design could be reproduced simultaneously in several stages in the copper plate. The resulting prints were then hand-coloured. This complete fusion of tint and illustration recalls mediaeval illuminated manuscripts, from which Blake derived obvious inspiration. From 1790 until 1800 Blake lived in Lambeth and produced books, thematically characterised by energetic protest against eighteenth century morality (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790-3) and against political authority (Ammca 1793, and The French Revolution, 1791). These works corroborate Blake's radicalism, which was demonstrated by his sympathy with Swedenborg in religion, with Mary Wollstonecaft in education, and with the Jacobins during the French Revolution.
  • Anne Gilchrist's Reading of Leaves of Grass

    Anne Gilchrist's Reading of Leaves of Grass

    “A WOMAN WAITS FOR ME”: ANNE GILCHRIST’S READING OF LEAVES OF GRASS STEVE MAR S DEN I draw you closer to me, you women, I cannot let you go, I would do you good, I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for others’ sakes, Enveloped in you sleep greater heroes and bards, They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me. —Walt Whitman, “A Woman Waits for Me” THE S TORY OF THE CURIOU S COURT S HIP of the poet Walt Whitman by Anne Gilchrist is already well known. This most extraordinary romance has been recounted in some detail, from a number of viewpoints, in a variety of sources, biographi- cal and critical.1 There is another story here, even more remarkable. It can open up for us the complex of issues that confront any student of Whitman’s poetry—the intersection of interpretation and fantasy, sex and religion, author and reader. It can help us understand how a strong reader can realize on the page not just an image of the author, but a new image of herself. It is the story of not just a remarkable love, but of a remarkable reading. When Anne Gilchrist first read William Michael Rossetti’s selection of poems from Leaves of Grass, she was forty-one, the mother of four children, and the widow of Alexander Gilchrist, a biographer and art critic. She was a woman of not inconsiderable accomplishments. She had assisted throughout the composition of her husband’s monumental biography of William Blake, and, following his unexpected death from scarlet fever, had seen the manu- script through the difficult process of completion, revision, fact-checking, and printing.
  • The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman

    The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman

    The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman By Walt Whitman and Anne Burrows Gilchrist THE LETTERS OF ANNE GILCHRIST AND WALT WHITMAN Edited With an Introduction BY THOMAS B. HARNED In Memoriam AUGUSTA TRAUBEL HARNED 1856-1914 CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION A WOMAN'S ESTIMATE OF WALT WHITMAN A CONFESSION OF FAITH LETTER I. WALT WHITMAN TO WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI AND ANNE GILCHRIST II. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN Earl's Colne September 3, 1871 III. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN Shotter Mill, Haslemere, Surrey October 23, 1871 IV. WALT WHITMAN TO ANNE GILCHRIST Washington, D. C. November 3, 1871 V. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., N. W., London November 27, 1871 VI. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., N. W., London January 24, 1872 VII. WALT WHITMAN TO ANNE GILCHRIST Washington, D. C. February 8, 1872 VIII. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., N. W., London April 12, 1872 IX. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., N. W., London June 3, 1872 X. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., N. W., London July 14, 1872 XI. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq. November 12, 1872 XII. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., London, N. W. January 31, 1873 XIII. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN 50 Marquis Rd., Camden Sq., London, N. W. May 20, 1873 XIV. ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN Earl's Colne, Halstead August 12, 1873 XV. WALT WHITMAN TO ANNE GILCHRIST Camden, New Jersey Undated.