Jefferson and Blake Writers of the Enlightenment and the Romantic Era

394 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Enlightenment and romanticism years

Jefferson and Blake Writers of the Enlightenment and the Romantic Era

The Enlightenment and the Romantic Era are two periods that differed greatly. Out of these contrasting eras came different literary styles and purposes. Thomas Jefferson and William Blake are two primary examples of diverse authors from equally diverse eras. Although the Romantic Era grew alongside the Enlightenment, it placed value on emotion or imagination over reason, where as the Enlightenment focused on reason and logical thinking. Unlike the Enlightenment, Romanticism allowed people to get away from the constricted, rational views of life and concentrate on an emotional and sentimental side of humanity. This not only influenced political doctrines and ideology, but was also a sharp contrast from the Enlightenment’s embracing of rationality before emotion. Jefferson and Blake both representing their own era through different writing styles that characterized the era in which their writings belong.

Along with Enlightenment came European struggle with the monarchy. This led to ideas of a self-governed people and, along with the separation of individuals from religion and government, would inevitably influence Thomas Jefferson’s writing of The Declaration of Independence. The beliefs in equality, justice, and morals were outstanding ideas from the Enlightenment that moved Jefferson to write in the instructive manner in which his purpose was to lead a group of people to believe in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Enlightenment influenced Jefferson’s writings and was responsible for his instructive writing style.

William Blake’s writing style was a product of the Romantic Era in which people were more concerned with emotions than reason. This era embodied society’s desire to

give in to its passions and express its feelings. In Blake’s “The Lamb,” he questioned “who made thee {lamb}” and then answered “little lamb God bless thee.” Blake personified the little lamb with “clothing of delight” and a “tender voice.” The comparison of the lamb and its creator through imagery and personification characterizes the Romantic Era as a whole.

Show More
Related

  • Comparison: Frankenstein & The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the late eighteenth century arose in literature a period of social, political and religious confusion, the Romantic Movement, a movement that emphasized the emotional and the personal in reaction to classical values of order and objectivity. English poets like William Blake or Percy Bysshe Shelley seen themselves with the capacity of not only write about usual life, but also of man’s ultimate fate in an uncertain world. Furthermore, they all declared their belief in the natural goodness of man and his future. Mary Shelley is a good example, since she questioned the redemption through the union of the human consciousness with the supernatural. Even though this movement was well known, none of the British writers in fact acknowledged belonging to it; “.”1 But the main theme of assignment is the narrative voice in this Romantic works. The narrator is the person chosen by the author to tell the story to the readers. Traditionally, the person who narrated the tale was the author. But this was changing; the concept of unreliable narrator was starting to get used to provide the story with an atmosphere of suspense.

    Read More

  • Dbq The Enlightenment

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Specifically, the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties that were granted by God and/or nature was advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers. Many people took aim at arbitrary governments and the “divine right of kings.” John Locke in return offered principles of constructing a constitutional government, a contract between rulers and the ruled. In Document 7, John Locke in The Two Treatises of Government stated that men consent to enter society in order to preserve their natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. The government should protect people's natural rights and if not, then the people can remove their consent because the government derives its power from the consent of the people. John Locke wrote during the time period of the Enlightenment; therefore, his thoughts were based on the emerging idea of individualism furthermore man's inherent rights and powers. Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence (Document 9) that are all men are created equal and that they are endowed with certain natural rights. The Declaration of Independence was written because of England's tyrannical rule over the American colonies thus, the citizens felt that their natural rights were being abused by the English government. Individualism was indeed formed in response to the skepticism of the Church as

    Read More

  • Argument Analysis - Declaration of Independence

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    The way that Jefferson structured The Declaration of Independence made the article extremely influential. Jefferson first starts by sharing his belief that governments and monarchies that do not represent the people. He then goes on to tell the rights that he believes all people should have all over the world. The rights he describes are simple and reasonable. From there his last line of that paragraph is “to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid World.” Then he starts to describe the injustices done to the colonies by the English crown. His structure works well to persuade people because he does not start immediately accusing the king of all these injustices or with strong languages. Like all good speakers and authors, Jefferson starts off with a lightly worded statement about when a group of people should start a new government. He then transitions to a slightly stronger statement about human rights, and then he goes into his compelling injustices of the king. The injustices that he describes include “He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People. The Declaration of Independence is...

    Read More

  • The Violation of William Blake's Songs of Innocence

    2435 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Enlightenment and the Declaration of Independence

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are many different ways in which the Enlightenment affected the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. One way was the by the idea of a Social Contract; an agreement by which human beings are said to have abandoned the "state of nature" in order to form the society in which they now live. HOBBES, LOCKE, and J.J. ROUSSEAU each developed differing versions of the social contract, but all agreed that certain freedoms had been surrendered for society's protection and that the government has definite responsibilities to its citizens. Locke believed that governments were formed to protect the natural rights of men, and that overthrowing a government that did not protect these rights was not only a right, but also an obligation. His thoughts influenced many revolutionary pamphlets and documents, including the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and the Declaration of Independence.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Jefferson And Thomas Paine

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Enlightenment was a European movement that emphasized reason and individualism rather than tradition and superstition. Two men in the colonies that were influenced by the Enlightenment were Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Paine was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He also promoted the idea of a revolution towards Great Britain. Paine was a philosopher, political theorist, and an English-American political activist. During the years 1775 to 1776, before the revolution, Thomas Paine wrote the Common Sense pamphlet. He wrote this pamphlet in a forceful, but understandable way. It inspired colonists in the thirteen colonies to fight for their independence from Great Britain and it encouraged the people to support the Patriots, who were colonists that wanted Independence from Great Britain. Another similar revolutionary thinker was Thomas Jefferson. He was an American lawyer and was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson was a part of the June 1776 committee, along with John Adams, Rodger Sherman, Robert Livingston and Ben Franklin who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Of those people on the committee, Thomas Jefferson was elected to write the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson announced the separation of the colonies from Great

    Read More

  • Ayn Rand - A False Romantic

    2794 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Romantic period at its height extended over just a bit more than a century, from the latter half of the eighteenth century through to nearly the end of the nineteenth century. During this period, a new school of poetry was forged, and with it, a new moral philosophy. But, as the nineteenth century wound down, the Romantic movement seemed to be proving itself far more dependent on the specific cultural events it spanned than many believed; that is, the movement was beginning to wind down in time with the ebbing of the industrial and urban boom in much the same way that the movement grew out of the initial period of industrial and urban growth. Thus, it would be easy to classify the Romantic movement as inherently tied to its cultural context. The difficulty, then, comes when poets and authors outside of this time period-and indeed in contexts quite different then those of the original Romantic poets-begin to label themselves as Romantics.

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson: More than a President

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (qtd. in Allison 65). Before 1776, Colonial America was a colony of Great Britain. Then, when their mother country became too oppressive, brave revolutionaries planned a Declaration of Independence to rid themselves of their bonds. This document launched the colony into The Revolutionary War with Great Britain. Eventually, The United States of America gained independence at the hands of many brave men and women. Prominent among these heroes and heroines is Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Apart from the Declaration, Jefferson accomplished great achievements in his lifetime; our nation would not be the same today without his genius: “Even among that remarkable group of men known as the Founding Fathers, Jefferson was truly a giant” (Allison 9).

    Read More

  • The Enlightenment vs. the Romantic Era: Sense and Sensibility

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ferguson, Carol. "LECTURE: THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE ROMANTIC ERA." The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Web. 18 Aug. 2010. .

    Read More

  • Romanticism And The Romantic Age

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blake, Wordsworth, and Keats all represent the Romantic style of literature with their unorthodox themes of nature, art, and life; and how those three points can be tied together and used for creative purposes among humankind. Art and life are counterparts; one is lacking without the other. The Romantic period was about passion; finding inspiration and beauty in things people see every day. Wordsworth found childhood memories in a familiar landscape, Blake found himself captivated by the mysteries of how the majestic tiger was created, and Keats’ urn triggered him to put his inquiries of it into poetry. Each man expressed his individual view within their works; and like many of their Romantic contemporaries, their ideas ran against the flow of their time’s societal beliefs.

    Read More

  • William Blake: Exposing the Harsh Realties of Life

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sir William Blake was known for his lucid writings and childlike imagination when it came down to his writings. Some will say that his writings were like day and night; for example, "The Lamb" and "The Tiger" or "The Little Boy Lost" and "The Little Boy Found." Born in the 18th century, Blake witnessed the cruel acts of the French and American Revolutions so his writings also, "revealed and exposed the harsh realities of life (Biography William Blake)". Although he never gained fame during his lifetime, Blake's work is thought of as to be genius and well respected today. "The lack of public recognition sent him into a severe depression which lasted from 1810-1817, and even his close friends thought him insane (William Blake,)". Blake once stated, "Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you (http://brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_blake.html )."

    Read More

  • William Blake Essay

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Blake is remembered by his poetry, engravements, printmaking, and paintings. He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain on November 28, 1757. William was the third of seven siblings, which two of them died from infancy. As a kid he didn’t attend school, instead he was homeschooled by his mother. His mother thought him to read and write. As a little boy he was always different. Most kids of his age were going to school, hanging out with friends, or just simply playing. While William was getting visions of unusual things. At the age of four he had a vision of god and when he was nine he had another vision of angles on trees.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Blake's Songs Of Innocence And Experience By William Blake

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1789, English poet William Blake first produced his famous poetry collection Songs of Innocence which “combines two distinct yet intimately related sequences of poems” (“Author’s Work” 1222). Throughout the years, Blake added more poems to his prominent Songs of Innocence until 1794, when he renamed it Songs of Innocence and Experience. The additional poems, called Songs of Experience, often have a direct counterpart in Blake’s original Songs of Innocence, producing pairs such as “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” In Songs of Innocence and Experience, Blake uses musical devices, structure, and symbolism to develop the theme that experience brings both an awareness of potential evil and a tendency that allows it to become dominant over childhood

    Read More

  • William Blake's Songs Of Innocence And The Garden Of Love

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    One way that Blake manifests the theme of a man being corrupted though experience is with imagery. For instance, in “The Echoing Green,” Blake creates imagery that portrays children playing “on the echoing green” with their families “sitting under the oak” (10, 13). The imagery paints a picture of a perfect

    Read More

  • The Romantic Era Of Romanticism In The Tyger By William Blake

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the mid 1800’s was a remarkable era called the Romanticism. Some political and social milestones of this era included The American Revolution, The French Revolution, and The Industrial Revolution. During these events, the “theme” more or less was a type of laissez faire which means, “let the people do as they please.” WIlliam Blake was a famous poet in this time period, as well as Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and George Gordon. Novels and poems were written in this time to express the ways Romanticism was shown and how melancholy was trending.

    Read More

More about Jefferson and Blake Writers of the Enlightenment and the Romantic Era

Open Document