William Blake

The Romantic Period (1785-1830)•  The Romantic Period was an era of turbulence.

o  Slave trade abolished in 1807o  The American and French Revolutionso  England took on harsh, repressive measureso  The "Industrial Revolution"

•  Economic turmoil in England brought upon the "Two Nations": the rich and the poor.o  Urbanization, neighborhood slums, harsh

factory conditions o  Industrialists and merchants flourished

•  Conceptions of proper femininity were altered.o The new revolutionary ideologies paved the

way for new opportunities.

Romanticism in Literature•  Principal canonical figures made up of six male

authors:o  Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Percy Shelley,

Keats, and Blake•  Romantic pieces were a reaction to the events

that took place in that time period.o  Shifted from faith in reason to faith in the

sense, feelings, and imagination.o  Shifted from public, impersonal poetry to

subjective poetry.o  Embraced rural living and nature.o  Concerned with human rights, individualism,

and freedom from oppression.

Timeline

Blake and others

EducationBlake’s only formal education was in art

-age 10: entered a drawing school

-studied for a time at the Royal Academy of

Arts

-age 14: entered seven-year apprenticeship

to well-known engraver James Basire

Work in ArtGave drawing lessons

Illustrated the works of other poets

Engraved designs made by other artists

Had a patron, William Hayley, who tried to transform Blake into a more conventional artist (Blake said of Hayley: “[He] is the Enemy of my Spiritual Life while he pretends to be the Friend of my Corporeal”)

"While…busy with commissions he also undertook the task of creating the engravings that would illustrate his own poetry, and he also printed them himself. He experimented with an early method of creating images and text on the same plate…

…His highly detailed illustrations often focus on parts of the human anatomy or fantastically imaginative creatures surrounded by various natural forms. Often tackling difficult metaphorical themes, his characters embodying inspiration and creativity do battle with oppressive forces like law and religion"

(Merriman, online-literature.com)

Importance of Apocalypse-"As an artist Blake admired and studied the works of Raphael, Heemskerk, Dürer, and Michelangelo, who would become important influences to the fantastic and at times apocalyptic illustrations he created for his own writings and others" (Merriman).

“Seeing the hand of God in the events [of the French Revolution] and understanding those events as the fulfillment of prophecies of the coming millennium came easily to figures such as…Coleridge, Wollstonecraft, and above all, Blake” (Norton Anthology)

Traditions of radical Protestant Dissent

Imminence of the Apocalypse and the coming of the Kingdom of God had long been central

“The new heaven and earth promised in the prophecies could…be gained by the individual who had achieved a new, spiritualized, and visionary way of seeing. An apocalypse of the imagination could liberate the individual from time, from what Blake called the “mind-forg’d manacles of imprisoning orthodoxies” (Norton Anthology)

Critical Reception"In 1808 he exhibited some of his watercolors at the Royal Academy, and in May of 1809 he exhibited his works at his brother James's

house…

…Some of those who saw the exhibit praised Blake's artistry…

but others thought the paintings "hideous" and more than a few called him insane“ (poets.org)

"To read a Blake poem without the pictures is to miss something important:

Blake places words and images in a relationship that is sometimes mutually enlightening and sometimes turbulent,

and that relationship is an aspect of the poem's argument"

(Norton Anthology, 77)

Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow

Book of Job

Late in His Career-in his sixties, gave up poetry to devote himself to art

-hundreds of engravings and illustrations for the works of other poets

Dante’s Divine Comedy:

Whirlwind of Lovers

Not well-known in his time, it wasn’t until the mid-1920’s that Blake, as a painter and poet, was recognized as “one of the most dedicated, intellectually challenging, and astonishingly original artists” (Norton Anthology)

Songs of Innocence & Experience The Lamb

Questions of creation Lamb as metaphor for

“Creator” = Jesus? Meekness, Gentleness,

Peace Rhymed couplets Complimented by, “The

Tyger” Innocent

Holy Thursday 4th day after the

resurrection of Christ Charity School Service @

St. Paul’s Cathedral For the thousands of

orphans Together their voices

are, “like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song”

Songs of Innocence & Experience The Divine Image

Virtues of Delight: Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace

Reverse Metaphor of Man as the model for God God-like qualities that

all humans strive for Complimented by “The

Human Abstract”

The Little Black Boy Equality in the “afterlife”

Skin color will be the same in the after life (white)

Though it strives to convey a strong point about religion, the underlying tones of racism are still present “And I am black, but O!

my soul is white; White as an angel is the English child”

Songs of Innocence & Experience The Nurse’s Song

Innocence of youth Relation to nature

The Tyger Questions creation

How can both sides of beauty and horror be made by the same God? “What immortal

hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Compliments “The Lamb”

Songs of Innocence & Experience Holy Thursday

Contrasts the beauty described in the first song of the same name

In this, the focus is on how children can be in such a miserable state

Questions how can God let this happen “Is this a holy thing to

see”

The Human Abstract Questions the four virtues

“Pity would be no more,

If we did not make somebody Poor:

And Mercy no more could be,

If all were as happy as we;” The virtues can not exist

with their counter parts

Songs of Innocence & Experience London

Observation of the “ugly” side of London Cries of chimney-

sweepers being punished by the church

Blood of soldiers spilled in order to protect the monarch

Prostitutes poisoning the ears of infants with cursing and mocking marriage as if it was like dying

The Sick Rose Infection of worm to the

beauty of the rose Representation of how

love is being tainted by thinking of sex as a shameful act

Themes/Motifs in Songs Of Innocence and Experience- Innocence / Loss of innocence

- Children

- God

- Religion

- Harsh reality of society/the world

- Poverty

- Charity

Innocence Innocence vs Experience

Innocence poems:

-wistful and carefree

-imaginative

-colorful imagery

Experience poems:

-cruel and harsh

-critical of society/religion

-full of darkness and death

“Infant Joy” vs “Infant Sorrow”

Children Represent innocence

Innocence

Children are happy, carefree, and playful, even in tough situations

Full of imagination and dreams

Experience

They are exploited and mistreated

Sense of loneliness

They also experience sorrow, fear, death, wrath, and the harsh realities of daily life

Question God and religion

God and Religion Innocence:

God’s love is universal (“The Little Black Boy”)

God as a creator of beauty and nature

God as a father (“The Chimney Sweeper”)

God as Mercy, Love & Pity (“The Divine Image”)

The church as a charity(“Holy Thursday”)

God and Religion Experience:

Nature is no longer beautiful

The church exploits the impoverished

“…a heaven of our misery”

God can create danger as well as beauty (“The Tyger”)

Church’s repression of love/sexuality

Poverty/Suffering “It is a holy thing to see,

In a rich and fruitful land,

Babes reduced to misery,

Fed with cold and usurous hand?”

(Holy Thursday, 90)

“And mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe”

(London, 94)

Tyger