William Blake Research Paper

This is a Revolution: Challenging the Status Quo during the Age of Romanticism The trends once set by forebears, are replaced by new styles and ideas by their successors. The group labeled “Romantics” reached their prime at a time of revolution. The United States and France were rebelling against monarchies, and this spirit of change found itself into the rest of society. Art, music, literature, social, and political ideas were all being revolutionized. William Blake, sought to challenge the beliefs being espoused by organized religion. William Wordsworth decided to try and change the way poetry was read and written. While both of the poets work differ in significant ways, they also share a lot of key similarities. Both are Romantics, who

Blake publishes The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as an argument for his position on spirituality and religion. He informs the reader of the Church’s stance, stating “Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell.” (Blake 71). Blake immediately deems this an error, saying “Energy is the only life, and is from the Body; and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.” (Blake 71). Blake is concerned about the stance the Church has taken. It rejects energy and desire as being spiritual qualities. Blake vehemently disagrees, believing that Energy is a good thing, derived from the Body, which is not distinguishable from the Soul. He states “All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following errors:…That Man has two real existing principles; Viz: a Body & a Soul.” (Blake 71). Blake claims this is nothing but an error, made by the priesthood in a misunderstanding of God’s intentions. Instead, Blake believes that what the Church has rejected, is essential and inherent in life. Blake claims “Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.” (Blake 70). Blake blames the priesthood as the culprits for this religious indiscretion. He says “Til a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav’d the vulgar by

A mixture of his natural abilities, as well as an deliberate attempt to change the way poetry was made. In his revolutionary Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth explains his philosophy concerning poetry. Wordsworth states “It was publishes, as an experiment…” (Wordsworth 136). communicating the nature of his work. It is not an exercise in writing poetry the way it had be written for centuries, but instead an experiment in the way he wanted it to be written. He goes on to say “It is supposed that by the act of writing in verse an author makes a formal engagement that he will gratify certain known habits of association; that he not only thus apprizes the reader that certain classes of ideas and expressions will be found in his book, but that others will be carefully excluded.” (Wordsworth 137). Wordsworth is explaining that readers will have a preconceived notion of what poetry is supposed to be, and what it certainly isn’t. Wordsworth asserts that “…I am certain, it will appear to many person that I have not fulfilled the terms of an engagement thus voluntarily contracted.” (Wordsworth 137). Due to the experimental nature of Wordsworth’s poetry, he anticipated backlash and misunderstanding of his goal of a new poetry. One of the primary characteristics of this new type of poetry Wordsworth is supporting is its focus on the common and rural. Wordsworth states “The principal object…in these