William Blake
Romantic Poetry has been written since the late seventeen hundreds up past the first reform bill passed in 1832. There were many romantic poets in the Romantic Era, many who have touched the hearts of many readers and still do till this day. William Blake was one of the first English Romantic poets to exist. This paper focuses on some of the history of William Blake’s life, William Blake as a Romantic Poet, and some songs from two of his famous books, "The Songs of Innocence" and "The Songs of Experience".
Included in this paper are some of William Blake’s fabulous art creations, I also have a personal interpretation of some of his poems. To view the poem just simply click on the title of the poem and you will have full access to the plate that the poem was printed on. When finished with this paper click on the hyperlinks found in my bibliography and you will have instant access to the world of William Blake.
BIOGRAPHY
William Blake was born on November 28, 1757; he was the first of the great English Romantic poets as well as a painter, engraver and printer. William Blake was the third son of a London hosier, he was brought up in a poor house hold and had very little schooling. "Blake lived in or near to London, a city which dominates much of his work, whether as the nightmare 'London' of the Songs of Experience, or the London which Blake saw as the 'New Jerusalem', the kingdom of God on earth."
Blake obtained most of his education through readings of the Bible, of Milton and Greek and Latin classic literature. "Blake is frequently referred to as a mystic, but this is not really accurate. He deliberately wrote in the style of the Hebrew prophets and envisioned his works as expressions of proph...
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... wrote the sequel The Songs of Experience. He wrote The Songs of Experience to demonstrate that, reality brings on experience.
I hope that after reading this paper and browsing through the hyperlinks included, you know understand how William Blake’s poems and artwork tie into one another and why he is one of the greatest Romantic poets that has ever lived.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Timeline of Blake's Life, Art and Literary Work
http://camel2.conncoll.edu/ccacad/english/Blake/timeline.html
The Blake WEB By: David W. Downie
http://198.247.176.53/
The Poets Corner
http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/blake01.html
The William Blake Page
http://members.aa.net/~urizen/blake_text.html
The William Blake Web Museum
http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/wm/paint/auth/blake/
The Time Line of William Blake
http://camel2.conncoll.edu/ccacad/english/blake/timeline.html
William Blake focused on biblical images in the majority of his poetry and prose. Much of his well-known work comes from the two compilations Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems in these compilations reflect Blake's metamorphosis in thought as he grew from innocent to experienced. An example of this metamorphosis is the two poems The Divine Image and A Divine Image. The former preceded the latter by one year.
William Blake was probably more concerned than any other major Romantic author with the process of publication and its implications for the interpretation of his artistic creations. He paid a price for this degree of control over the process of printing, however: Blake lived in poverty and artistic obscurity throughout his entire life. Later, when his poems began to be distributed among a wider audience, they were frequently shorn of their original contexts. For William Blake, there has been a trade-off between the size of the audience he has reached and the degree of control he exerted over the publication process.
Freely accessible birth control for teenagers has always been a topic of debate, but it prevents pregnancy, abortion, and it also has many health benefits. There are cons to the argument that suggests a rise in promiscuity in the adolescent demographic, but in spite of these cons the rise of birth control continues, because access to birth control helps adolescents make an informed and safe decision on whether or not to participate in sexual activities. It doesn’t make the decision for them.
However, USA Today (2013) "About half of teens visiting family planning clinics went without a parent 's knowledge. They could likely get an abortion without telling their parents teens in particularly reserved households just might end up taking their chances.” The parents not being tell about their child health is dangerous to the young person own health and to that of the community, particularly other young people. Plan B One Step is not doing young people any justice by helping them keep their parents in the dark. The company seems to lose sight of the very reason we have an age of consent is to protect children.
William Blake is a literature genius. Most of his work speaks volume to the readers. Blake’s poem “The Mental Traveller” features a conflict between a male and female that all readers can relate to because of the lessons learned as you read. The poet William Blake isn’t just known for just writing. He was also a well-known painter and a printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of poetry. His poems are from the Romantic age (The end of the 18th Century). He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain. He was the third of seven children. Even though Blake was such an inspiration as a writer he only went to school just enough to read and write. According to Bloom’s critical views on William Blake; one of Blake’s inspirations was the Bible because he believed and belonged to the Moravian Church.
Those who disagree think providing birth control promotes promiscuity and premarital sexual activity. In the article “At Issue: Birth Control Availability,” the author argues that access to birth control and other contraceptives for teens would make them think their behavior is acceptable. The author states, “Providing free condoms and other birth control methods sends the message that premarital sexual activity is acceptable” (“ProQuest”). The opposition believes birth control would promote promiscuity and make it seem acceptable. Although some believe that birth control encourages promiscuity, the fact that teens are sexually active has not changed; therefore, access to birth control can only encourage safe sex. Kim Grundy, author of “The Teens and Birth Control Debate,” argues that teaching abstinence wastes time. Wendie Howland, editor of Journal of Nurse Life Care Planning, declares, “Abstinence hasn’t worked for thousands of years as a reliable way to avoid teen pregnancy” (qtd. in Grundy). Howland and Grundy argue that abstinence has not worked in the past, and will continue not to, therefore; birth control should become available to teens.
Natoli, Joseph. "William Blake." Critical Survey Of Poetry, Second Revised Edition (2002): 1-12. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
However it’s understandable for teens to think that birth control is the way to go with everything that is on T.V and the internet. Even when the facilities say they don’t have to tell their parents they immediately think that is the way out. Instead of these places encouraging these teens to tell their parents they are encouraging them to take birth control so they won’t get pregnant at a young age. Which isn’t necessarily wrong but they really shouldn’t be doing that with teens girls. They should first encourage them not to have sex and then talk to their parent’s. Young girl’s bodies are not the same as a full matured woman’s body. At that teen age our bodies are still going through changes so if we have chemicals in are body like that who is to say that it would work fine.
It has been acknowledged by many scholars that Yeats' study of Blake greatly influenced his poetic expression. This gives rise to the widely held assertion that Yeats is indebted to Blake. While I concur with this assertion, I feel that the perhaps greater debt is Blake's.
William Blake was a modern thinker with a recalcitrant political spirit. He used poetry and art as sociopolitical weapons, which were raised boldly against the establishment. These sociopolitical weapons, which began with him, are still used today in all types of artistic and political activities. Although known as a madman and a mystic, (Elliott) his art and his poetry were guided by the visions of radical change. Even today, his work is both relevant and profound. The brilliant approach he took with difficult political and moral topics created unique artistic representations that are very much as relevant today as they were when Blake first adopted their use.
He led strong beliefs that were occasionally mentioned in his work. One was that everyone is equal and is mentioned in 'All Religions Are One': "As all men are alike (tho' infinitely various)" He based most of his works in the style of Romanticism - Blake wrote from the heart, he let his thoughts and beliefs take over. Some of Blake?s poems include ?
"William Blake - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Web. 07 July 2011. .
William Blake, one of the infamous English romantic poets, is most known for his romantic views on conventional scenes and objects, which were presented in his works The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience. The first collection was published in 1789, and addresses subjects such as suffering and death from the innocent and optimistic perspective of a child. The later collection addresses these same issues, but is told from the perspective of an experienced bard. The poems contained in The Songs of Innocence often have a counter part in the second collection that reflects a darker or more corrupted take on the same subject. For example, the purity presented in the creation of “The Lamb” is dramatically contrasted with its shameful counterpart “The Tyger”. In this essay, I will argue that William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” alludes to his belief in a darker side of creation and the implications of the Industrial Revolution, my argument is based on Blake’s use of rhetorical questions, word choice, and the poem’s context; specifically in the fourth and fifth stanzas. In the beginning of the poem the tiger appears as a striking and wondrous creature, however, as the poem progresses, the tiger takes on a symbolic meaning, and comes to be a physical manifestation of the spiritual and moral problem the poem explores: creation, divine and manmade.
Johnson, Mary Lynn and John E. Grant, eds. Blake's Poetry and Designs. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1979.
Thus the poem is a splendid pen picture of joys of child hood and their eventual fading away into eternity. Blake has further laid stress on the potent entity called ‘change’. The poet has through useful symbol of oak tree, old people, evening etc has discussed the mechanics, which act as a fulcrum in moving the paddles of life. The poet has showed superb mastery as he changes the mood of the poem along with the progression of the poem. The poem is in fact a very fine presentation of the philosophy of life resting on the hinges of the magnificent time.