William Blake, the Most Romantic of Them All

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To truly understand William Blake, there must be at least moderate explanation of the time in which he wrote. Blake was a literary figure at the turn of the 18th century, a very early Romantic, but most defiantly a Romantic. All of the common themes, visionary, fantastic images, emphasis on the individual self, the common man, the notion of "the "sublime"( a thrilling emotional experience that combines awe, magnificence and horror)", Pantheism. All these decidedly Romantic ideas are prevalent in Blake's poetry. The use of imagery from nature, (for example, "flowers of London"), would later become a staple, but at this point still a novelty. All these characteristics delegate William Blake as one of the "fathers" of Romanticism, one who defined the genre.

The Age of Romanticism, 1789-1832, these years were some of the most tumultuous in the history of the world. Three Revolutions swept the world, the French, American, and Industrial; these events, the growing mistrust of the Church, and others would forever change the way people perceived things. This heightened awareness...

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