William Blake
He was born in November 28, 1757 in Soho, London, where he lived most of his life. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. In his early childhood, Blake spoke about having visions. At four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Although his parents tried to discourage him from "lying," they did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend regular school.Blake's early ambitions were not with poetry but with painting. At the age of 14, after attending drawing school, he became the apprentice to James Basire, an engraver. One of Blake's assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career.
In 1782, he married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher. Blake taught her to read and to write, and also instructed her in draftsmanship. She helped him to print the illuminated poetry for which he is remembered today. In 1784, he set up a print shop, but within a few years the business failed, and for the rest of his life, Blake earned a living as an engraver and illustrator. When Robert, his brother, died, Blake saw his brother's spirit rise up through the ceiling, "clapping its hands for joy." He believed that Robert's spirit continued to visit him and later claimed that in a dream Robert taught him the printing method that he used in Songs of Innocence and other "illuminated" works.
In 1789, he published his Songs of Innocence, the gentlest of his lyrics, but the collection was followed by Songs of Experience, which expressed adult corruption and repression. His long list of works shows relentless energy and passion. Blake believed that his poetry could be read and understood by common people, but he was determined not to sacrifice his vision in order to become popular. He is one of the most complex writers ever known. His vision of civilization as chaotic and contradictory mirrors the political turmoil of his era.
In 1782, he married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher. Blake taught her to read and to write, and also instructed her in draftsmanship. She helped him to print the illuminated poetry for which he is remembered today. In 1784, he set up a print shop, but within a few years the business failed, and for the rest of his life, Blake earned a living as an engraver and illustrator. When Robert, his brother, died, Blake saw his brother's spirit rise up through the ceiling, "clapping its hands for joy." He believed that Robert's spirit continued to visit him and later claimed that in a dream Robert taught him the printing method that he used in Songs of Innocence and other "illuminated" works.
In 1789, he published his Songs of Innocence, the gentlest of his lyrics, but the collection was followed by Songs of Experience, which expressed adult corruption and repression. His long list of works shows relentless energy and passion. Blake believed that his poetry could be read and understood by common people, but he was determined not to sacrifice his vision in order to become popular. He is one of the most complex writers ever known. His vision of civilization as chaotic and contradictory mirrors the political turmoil of his era.
William Blake's Romantic Role
William Blake’s position in the Romantic Movement can be considered nothing short of a leading author and a key source of passion. In keeping with Romantic concepts such as the emotions of awe, terror, and horror, Blake painted powerful pictures of nature and God. The influence of his celestial visions as well as the Romantic Movement can be clearly seen in his works such as The Tiger and The Lamb, where Blake emphasizes the power of a creator of both a tame lamb and the fierce tiger.
In terms of political views, Blake fit very well with the liberalism and radicalism associated with the Romantic Revolution. His work, while difficult to classify, is easily marked with the telltale signs of an attitude of rebellion and an adverse feeling toward authority. Blake embraced sexual and racial equality, and he vehemently opposed slavery. While Blake deeply respected the Bible and was a firm believer in God, he despised organized religion, particularly the Church of England. Blake supported the American and French Revolutions, seeing them as the uprising of the oppressed against tyrants.
Blake is very clearly a Romanticist in his relationship with Enlightenment thinking. In Jerusalem, Blake shows a distinct dislike for the schools of Europe in which the foundations of Enlightenment had been glorified:
I turn my eyes to the Schools & Universities of Europe
And there behold the Loom of Locke whose Woof rages dire
Washd by the Water-wheels of Newton. black the cloth
In heavy wreathes folds over every Nation; cruel Works
Of many Wheels I view, wheel without wheel, with cogs tyrannic
Moving by compulsion each other: not as those in Eden: which
Wheel within Wheel in freedom revolve in harmony & peace.
Even in his publications did he refuse to go with the grain. During his time, Blake’s peers used a traditional mezzotint painting method, where an image was created using countless tiny dots of color. Blake, seeing an analogy between mezzotints and Newton’s theory of light particles, decided that he would use a different method rather than associate himself with Newton. Thus, Blake would engrave in acid-resistant fluid using copper and then print them after etching.
In essence, Blake was very much a Romanticist author. His political ideas and opposition to the ideas of science eventually became identified with the movement itself. Whether in his opposition of Naturalism or his rejection of organized religion, Blake was the epitome of a Romantic rebel.
Blake is very clearly a Romanticist in his relationship with Enlightenment thinking. In Jerusalem, Blake shows a distinct dislike for the schools of Europe in which the foundations of Enlightenment had been glorified:
I turn my eyes to the Schools & Universities of Europe
And there behold the Loom of Locke whose Woof rages dire
Washd by the Water-wheels of Newton. black the cloth
In heavy wreathes folds over every Nation; cruel Works
Of many Wheels I view, wheel without wheel, with cogs tyrannic
Moving by compulsion each other: not as those in Eden: which
Wheel within Wheel in freedom revolve in harmony & peace.
Even in his publications did he refuse to go with the grain. During his time, Blake’s peers used a traditional mezzotint painting method, where an image was created using countless tiny dots of color. Blake, seeing an analogy between mezzotints and Newton’s theory of light particles, decided that he would use a different method rather than associate himself with Newton. Thus, Blake would engrave in acid-resistant fluid using copper and then print them after etching.
In essence, Blake was very much a Romanticist author. His political ideas and opposition to the ideas of science eventually became identified with the movement itself. Whether in his opposition of Naturalism or his rejection of organized religion, Blake was the epitome of a Romantic rebel.
The Passion of the Romantic Movement
Blake was a man who was in-tune to his supernatural imaginations. Since the age of eight, he claimed to have seen divine entities roaming the Earth such as god himself and several instances of angels. The spark of it all was his love for the Bible. His love for the book made him somewhat comparable to America’s Blanch in Streetcar Named Desire. Much like Blanch who lived her own ideal world, Blake is also living in his own divine world but does not regret it. People have come to see him as abnormal and mental as their first impression. However, Romanticist writers such as Wordsworth saw beyond his mentality. They saw him as the embodiment of the Romantic purpose which was to bring man and nature closer together. By straying from the reasonings and sins of man and living in his own divine world, Wordsworth saw such divinity as a sign of nature and imagination himself and has believed such world to be a powerful bond between man and nature. It was Blake’s own passion for imagination, divinity, and creativity that allowed such strange yet fulfilling events to occur which comes to show through his many artworks and poetry.
Blake's Contributions to Western Thought
William Blake contributes to western thought through his works such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake expresses two contrary state between two different matters throughout each of his poem. For example, the lamb and the tiger symbolizes two different aspects. The lamb represents an innocent creature of God while the tiger represents the created universe terrifying aspects. The two poem demonstrates his observations and contradictions of a creator. Blake tries to warn the western that industrialization will soon take over the agricultural life through the poems. Ultimately, Blake is trying to say that every experience, creation, path, and etc has its own consequences.