William Blake

William Blake

Born November 28, 1757

London, England

Died August 12, 1827

London, England

69 years old
http://www.johnmitchell.org/art_gallery.htm

Blakes Life

Early years
Began his artistic
career at 10, when his
father sent him to the
best drawing school in
England
Apprenticed to an
engraver at 14

Adult life
Always worked as an
engraver and
professional artist
Was very poor,
especially later in life
Always felt rich in
spirit

Blakes Life
His life is considered simple, boring, when
compared to the lives of his contemporaries
(Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats)
Married to the same woman most of his life
Never travelled

Blakes Wife

Married Catherine
Boucher in 1782
They were married
until his death in 1827
She assisted with the
printing and hand
colouring of his
poems

Blakes Poetry
His work received little attention during his lifetime
Most of his poetry was not widely published

When his work was noticed, people thought it (and

therefore Blake himself) was weird, confused, or
mad

 Illustrated most of his poems as well as those of

other writers
Printed most of his poetry himself

http://wiredforbooks.org/blake/milton2a.jpg

http://4umi.com/image/art/blake/introduction.jpg

http://colophon.com/gallery/minsky/jpegs/blakemh2.jpg

Blakes Romantic Tendencies

If we see with our imagination, we see the
infinite; if we see with our reason, we see only
ourselves
Believed everything in life (every object, every
event) was a symbol with a mystical or spiritual
meaning
His poems spoke out against social injustice
His poetry and art reflect his struggles with the
big spiritual questions:
Why is there evil?
Why do evil people sometimes prosper?
Why do the innocent suffer?

Blake Bibliography
Poetical Sketches (1783)
All Religions Are One (1788)
There Is No Natural Religion (1788)
Songs of Innocence (1789)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793)
America, a Prophecy (1793)
For Children: The Gates of Paradise (1793)
Europe, a Prophecy (1794)
Songs of Experience (1794)
The First Book of Urizen (1794)
The Song of Los (1795)
The Book of Ahania (1795)
The Book of Los (1795)
For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise (1820)
http://www.gailgastfield.com/mhh/mhh1.jpg

Songs of Innocence and

Experience (1794)
Subtitle: The Contrary States of the Human
Soul
Innocence: genuine love, trust toward
humankind, unquestioned belief in Christianity
Experience: disillusionment with human nature
and society
Poems in either Innocence or Experience are
coloured by the speakers state

The Chimney sweeper

from the songs of Innocence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC4Dq2scQDI

http://oldgreypony.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/blakes-blazing-childan-essay/

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry weep! weep! weep! weep!
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curled like a lambs back, was shaved: so I said,
Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your heads bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.
And so he was quiet; and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight, That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.
And by came an angel who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins and set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.
Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the angel told Tom, if hed be a good boy,
Hed have God for his father, and never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

The Chimney sweeper

Explication

Rhyme Scheme
aabb couplets
Meter
most lines contain five metrical feet
Figurative speech simile: Tom Dacre's hair compared to lambs wool
symbols: lamb=innocence
contrast: white hair (angel) vs soot
Theme:
hard work will be rewarded and life's care will be left behind

The Chimney sweeper

From the Songs of experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0zXdt5y5c

A little black thing among the snow:

Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!
Where are thy father & mother? say?
They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Because I was happy upon the heath
And smil'd among the winters snow:
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
And because I am happy & dance & sing,
They think they have done me no injury:
And are gone to praise God & his Priest &
King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.
http://www.uta.edu/english/rosenberg/williamblake

The Chimney sweeper

Explication

Rhyme Scheme

Figurative speech contrast: the chimney sweeper at work

abab abab abab

vs
his parent at church
happy vs woe; heaven vs misery

Theme:

metaphor: the clothes of death

the notes of woe
symbols: snow, winter = death
hypocrisy of institutions

Blakes Influence
Jim Morrison
got the name for The Doors
from
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

If the doors of perception were cleansed,

everything would appear to man as it isinfinite.
For man has closed himself up till he sees things
through narrow chinks of his cavern.