The Hate of Tyranny and Celebration of Liberty in William Blake's Poetry
William Blake was born in 1757, during a period of great change in
western political ideas. The poor had begun to realise that they did
not have to live as serfs under the rich, and were breaking free of
these old bonds, The main examples of this being The French revolution
in 1792 and the American Revolution in 1775, both now considered as
some of the most important events in history. Blake was a great
supporter of these movements, and believed that the same should happen
in England. This is why many of the Aristocracy at the time considered
Blake a threat to their comfortable way of life. The tiger in Blake's
most famous poem is said to represent the French Revolution, 'What
immortal hand or eye, can frame thy fearful symmetry?' he writes,
making clear his view of the power and greatness of this movement.
Although Blake didn't go as far in his protests as the French, he is
very subversive in his views the ruling classes in his poetry,
although he uses well known symbols and metaphors to voice his
criticism. An excellent of this is his poems 'The Shepherd' in which
the sheep represent the population of England, who are able to live
without the 'shepherd' - the king/government, but simply trust their
leader to deal with administrative tasks and international affairs.
Blake is saying that people do not need their leaders to deal with
their personal lives.
The Church, up till then seen as a completely trusted and
unquestionable institution, began to come under scrutiny for money
squandering and corruption. As his parents were both middle class
hosiers working in London, he saw every day the two faces of
eighteenth-century society; the poor badly treated working classes and
the rich upper classes, living in luxury. Blake believed that such a
great, seemingly unbridgeable divide could be crossed if only
particularly trusted groups such as the Monarchy, the Aristocracy and
the Church showed some morals and respect toward the lower classes.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Blake's View on Oppression of Children by Adults Blake was a poet who wrote in the Romantic period. He had idealistic views about life, and believed that the traditional country way of life was the best way to live. He despised the industry that was establishing itself in England because it was the opposite of the ideal country lifestyle that Blake idealised. The idea that Blake believed that children were oppressed is an interesting one, because, there are a number of poems which suggest different ideas about this topic.
godly misery. But it could also be the pain of the people as not only
William Blake was one of those 19th century figures who could have and should have been beatniks, along with Rimbaud, Verlaine, Manet, Cezanne and Whitman. He began his career as an engraver and artist, and was an apprentice to the highly original Romantic painter Henry Fuseli. In his own time he was valued as an artist, and created a set of watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job that were so wildly but subtly colored they would have looked perfectly at home in next month's issue of Wired.
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
Blake’s poetry focuses on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision is reflected in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery of animals and man.
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 )."
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.
There are two kinds of people in the world, lambs and tigers. The lambs are the young and inexperienced, they have no greater knowledge of the harmful world around them, nor do they obtain any knowledge of true evil. Just like the animal itself, cute, calm, peaceful and non-violent. The tigers on the other hand have witness and experienced the horrors of the world around them; they have lived through horrors and hardships that have caused them to evolve from lambs to tigers. The times are tough in the time period of William Blake. In these two groups, the people are classified by either a lamb or a tiger. William Blake wrote two poems in his life; one called “The Lamb” the other call, “The Tyger.” These two poems were classified into two groups, one call the Songs of Innocence, the other call the Songs of Experience. The poem, “The Lamb” fits into Songs of Innocence due it is simplistic views and easy language, while the poem, “The Tyger” fits into Songs of Experience due to is tone and fear.
This is as Blake is. aware of everything that goes on in the society, and the poem clearly expresses his repulsiveness towards the political oppression imposed by the monarchy. However, Blake does not solely blame the monarcy, but he does. also the people of his country. This is because he saw all the other countries that previously suffered the oppression of a monarchy, fight.
William Blake composed two series of poems: Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. The poems are intertwined as to compare the thoughts of children and adults on the same issues. The innocence of children is discussed on topics of religion, love, and justice. The opinions of adults are also experienced on these topics, but are given from a more experienced viewpoint. William Blake comparatively writes two series of poems to address the controversy of God, love, and justice from pure thinkers and from corrupt thinkers.
Blake one of many others had lived in the time of the American, French, and Industrial Revolutions (Blake Background). This gave Blake the opportunity to witness the most conflicting stages for the transformation of the Western world. Through Blake's poems The Lamb, and The Tyger can reflect the change of the Western world. As in the lamb it is of a feudal agricultural society time that still has the innocence of a young shapered. Up to the Tyger that has a feel of the Industrial time sounds as if the tyger was forged.
The cruel child laboring of sweeping chimneys in the late 1700s stirred many emotions through William Blake’s poetic work. His two poems both named, The Chimney Sweeper, expressed a creative perspective on children sweeping chimneys. Both the first and second poems contained similar poetic techniques to convey a similar meaning, but also contrasted in poetic techniques to portray different perspectives of children who were forced to endure the risky job.
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.
The Theme of Freedom in Poetry Write about three poems on freedom: On Liberty and Slavery (George Moses Horton), Sympathy (Paul Laurence Dunbar) and Caged Bird (Maya Angelou). I have chosen to write about three poems on freedom: On Liberty and Slavery (George Moses Horton), Sympathy (Paul Laurence Dunbar) and Caged Bird (Maya Angelou). The full text of the poems is attached.