1lliam Blake (17 7- 1827) illiam Blake's life is not as ''romantic'' or ''poetic'' as the lives of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats were. By all accounts, he was somewhat happily married to the same woman for much of his life. He never traveled and he lived outside London for only three ' years ( 1800-1803). He began his artistic training at ten, when his father, a London shop­ keeper, sent him to one of the best drawing schools. Apprenticed to an engraver at fourteen, Blake worked steadily at his craft as an engraver and as a professional artist throughout a long life. During his lifetime, Blal<e's worl< received William Blake (detail) ( 1807) by Thomas Phfllips. 011 very little attention, and a great deal of his on canvas (35X" x I7X"). poetry was never published in the sense of The Granger Collect/on, New York. being public. When his work was noticed, readers and viewers too often decided that it, his poetry himself (and sometimes only for and therefore Blake himself, was weird, himselij, using engraving methods he himself confused, or mad. What we really know of had created. According to Blake's nineteenth­ Blake from the enormous energy and variety century biographer Alexander Gilchrist, ''the of his poetry, paintings, drawings, and poet and his wife did everything in making the engravings is that he was quite simply a great book [Songs of Innocence ( 1789)) writing, de­ artist in the fullest sense. signing, printing, engraving everything except A woman at a gathering is said to have asl<ed manufacturing the paper; the very inl<, or color Blake where he had come upon the scene he rather, they did mal<e. Never before surely was had just vividly described to her. ''Here, a man so literally the author of his own book." madam," he said, pointing his finger at his A good deal of what Blake wrote other forehead. To paraphrase Blake, if we see with than his poems is cryptic and needs illumination imagination, we see all things in the infinite. But from his art. But one characteristic of the ma.n if we see only with reason, we see only himself shines through clea.rly the optimism ourselves. ''I know that this world is a world of sustained by his continuous joy in the '1one imagination & vision," he wrote. continued vision'' of his art. As one The history of Blake the poet cannot really acquaintance described Blake, ''He was a be separated from that of Blake the visual man without a masl(; his aim single, his p th artist. Not only did he provide illustrations for straightforward, and his wants t w; so he was most of his poems, but he also printed much of free, noble, and happy." - -,-.- ~- :,- -' - - -- . -- ,, 534 Chc1pter 5 1 The Romantic Period ... • ilJi·tn 11- r p bli d .. ng of Jn,10 ,1ce in l? . In 7 4, this ,l,11 lt · nd g of peri 11c were i u d t er in o. v, lu , th titl p,g pr n1i i g d mo "tion of "th tw ntrary tat.es f th um 1 ,ul." n . ri . BJ l<e nceived the fir t of the e tate , 'lln oc nc ," ~ t t of g nui11c 1 v and naive trust toward all hu- n1 nkin , c n1panied by unque tioned belief in Christian doctrine. hougl1 a firm b Ii v r in hri tia11ity, Blake thought tl1at its d.octrines w r b ing u ed by the ngli h Church and other institutions as a form of ci l 011lrol: to encourage arno11g the people passive obedience nd a ptance of oppre ion, poverty, and inequality. Recognition of this marks whal Blake called tl1e tate of ''Experience;' a profound disil­ lu i 11m nt with hu1na11 nature a11d society. One entering the state of '' p ri 11c ,, ee cruelty and l1ypocrisy only too clearly but is unable to in1agine a way out. Blake also conceived of a third, higher state of The Ghost of Samuel con iou ne that he called ''Orga11ized l11nocence;' which is expressed Appearing to Saul ( I 800) by W illiam Blake. Pen and ink in hi lat r work. In thi state, one's ense of the divinity of humanity with watercolor over c e ·st witl1 opp re sion graphite ( 12 Yi," x 13 ~j. and inju tice, though in­ volving continued recog­ nition of a11d active opposition to them. I Reading Blake. When ' , reading Songs of Innocence and, to a lesser eA1:ent, ongs of Experience, it is impor·tant to remember that Blal<e intended them not as sim.ple expressions of religious faith. The poems are demonstra­ tion of viewpoints that -Q are necessarily limited or ~ di torted by eacl1 narra­ tor> or peaker's state of l• consc1ousnes• . William Blake 535 M h Conn ct on William Blak 's poetry and art reflect his A symbol is a person, place, an i­ fascination with the Bible and his struggle to mal, thing, or event that stands for flnd answers to questions that profoundly itself and for something beyond disturbed him: What is the source of evil in itself. the world? Why does God allow the innocent to suffer? Can evil be transformed For more on Symbol, see the Hand­ or transcended? book of Literary and Historical Terms. One of Blake's early conclusions about the problem of good and evil was that ''with­ out contraries is no progression." To Blake, ''The Tyger'' and ''The Lamb'' reflect ''two Background contrary states of the human soul," both of Blake's poems have a surface simplicity that which are as essential to humanity as joy and masks a very complex view of human life sadness, innocence and experience. and of Christianity. As a religious visionary, Blake saw the entire material world as a set Lit rary Focus of signs or symbols representing religious or Symbol mystical realities. In addition, any one of A symbol is a person, place, animal, thing, Blal<e's symbols the ''tyger," for instancJ;>--e - or event that stands for both itself and has such a rich array of meanings that we something more than itself. In literature, cannot expect ever to understand fully what symbols function on two levels: They have a such a symbol meant to him. literal, or exact, meaning and a figurative, or metaphorical, one. The metaphorical mean­ ing involves states, feelings, and experiences that are hard to articulate yet are of great importance to people, such as love, death, danger, or hope. The meanings of some symbols are widely recognized, such as the dove as a sign of peace, but poets and writers often create new symbols whose meaning can only be discovered by exploring the structure, lan­ ..10 guage, and imagery of the works in which Re w R dn they appear. S 3.7 Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including Eloh im Creating Adam ( William Blake. symbolism, 1795- 1805) by and explain Tate Gallery, l...ondon. their appeal. 536 The Romantic Period hil l,n st v ryorz agr s that '' he Tyger'' is 01,e of tl1e most p w rful of Blak 's n f p ri n , th re has b e11 much disa r m 11t about the 111eaning of the poe,11.'s ce11tral synibol, the tig 1· it elf. 11 possibility is that the tiger represe11ts a strong The Tyger ( 1793) by William r volutionary nergy that can e11lighten and t,·ansform society a Blal<e, from his book Songs o( po itiv bi,t ,10 /atile fo1·ce Blake believed was operating in the Experience. Hand-colored rench Revolutio11. T/1e poen1's speaker, a.t a,,,y rate, ca11not etching. Library of Congress, con1prehe11.d su h a startling e11ergy, and ca11 orzly wonder 1,vhether Washington, D.C. it is den1onic or godlike. from Songs of Experience Willia1n Blake r . Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the fores·ts of the night, ') • What immortal hand or eye • Could frame thy fearful symmetry? h ~ , L • . s In what distant deeps or slues • • • Burnt the fire of thine eyes? t w • U" \ • On what wings dare he aspire? • What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, 1o Could twist the sinews of lhy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread fe et? What the l1amn1er? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? 1s What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When tl1e tar threw down their pear , 0 17. tar . pear : re~ r nr~ And watered l1e .ven witl1 their tears, to tJ1 ang l wl1 ell with Did lie mile l1i work to ee? .....(.lt n n d tl1r w d wn th i par ftr l · 20 Did he wh made the Lamb n1alce tl1e ? 11 ,, n. Tyg . r! Tyger! burning bright In th for of tl1e night, What imm r al hand or , ar ·am 'th,y e rful ymm ry? Will1am Bia 537 I It, rl l ,1, ,l, ( J775- 1 .1 ), p rJ1 p t/1 • 111osl 111p/i /1 d Ro111,111ti • ,1 ,; t . i11 tli prais s illin,11 Bln c i11 a I ti rt rto11. ) • • • I k i re l n , l ur y u, and t11 w p r1g. Th r i n l a ti er, whi 11 m t ~tr( r in .. 01 n, i 11 b till l J, v 11 , rd r it d, b ginning: \' i g.