William Blake: a complex synthesis of poetry and painting

Blake's illuminated books are remarkable examples of complex syntheses: of form -

poetry and painting; and of subject - the real with the mythical. This complexity has resulted
in more than a century of debate regarding their interpretation. ow do the text and images
interact! "re the mythical characters #eiled descriptions of real people! $r% is the work just a
fantastical and di#erting journey through Blake's #i#id imagination!
"s an artist and a poet% Blake is talented at showing his opinions to the world through
his artwork. To the world of his own time Blake appeared a mad #isionary% whose sweet
impulsi#e early poems attracted a few of the rarer souls of the age% but whose pictures and
designs were practically unknown. is genius% atmosphere% and modes of thought were
antipathetic to his age% and his aims and achie#ement pro#ed so difficult to understand from
the point of #iew of that day% that he was summarily and uncomprehendingly set down as
mad. &nfortunately% his works were considered to be e#il or possessed by demons during his
time because he was against religions% but today his arts and poems are fascinating with
ama'ing details.
(et)s turn our attention to Blake)s art-work*the fruit of his life +of beautiful purpose
and warped power%, as -uskin calls it*and the expression of those strange thoughts% beliefs
and #isions% which were his real world.
The lamb is one of the simplest poems of Blake. The symbolic meaning of it is almost
clearly stated in the poem which is probably the most important among the Songs of
Innocence. ere the symbols of child% lamb and .hrist are assimilated each other. The poem
begins with a child like directness and natural world that show none of the signs of grownups.
The poet addresses lamb itself. (amb is pure% innocent and it is associated with .hrist. Being
a #isionary% Blake in#ites the reader to world free form reasoning. e describes the lamb as he
sees it. The lamb has been blessed with life and with capacity to drink from the stream and
feed from the meadow. /t has been allotted with bright% soft and warm wool which ser#es as
its clothing. /t has a tender #oice which fills the #alley with joy. The child% too% is innocent
child. .hrist was also a child when he first appeared on this earth as the son of 0od. The child
enjoys the company of the lamb who is analogous to the child. The Lamb and The Tyger
represent the two contrary states of the human soul. The lamb represents innocence and
humanity where as the tiger represents fierce force within man.
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2e ha#e here a realistic and sympathetic portrait of a lamb. But% the symbolic meaning
goes much deeper. The poem seems that it is based on the biblical hope that 3meek shall
inherit the world,. This o#ertly simple poem also subtly approaches the subject of creati#ity
and the creator. 2hile the speaker is speaking about a real physical lamb on the surface of it%
the subtext of the poem deri#es from both .hristian and classical mythology. The child is the
symbol of .hrist% the physical incarnation of the deity. The fact that it has been sent to feed
among the meadow and along the stream indicates that it is to li#e by natural% instinctual
means% or the 4i#ine law of the nature. The wooly softness and the brightness that comes
from within also support the di#ine nature of the lamb symbol. The #oice of the lamb is also
e5ually significant. The child% the lamb and the .hrist are all close to the creati#e being;
creati#ity is a child like occupation% since it also in#ol#es the natural spirit% sense of wonder
and undefiled imagination.
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/n the Songs of Innocence% the marriage of the poems and designs was complete% and
matter and form @poetic and artisticA attained an almost complete identity.
But if Blake can no longer take us with him into the infinite on the wings of his poetry%
he can with his pencil create on a sheet of paper a world of imagination% which in relation to
this actual world is e#anescent and to some impalpable.
Talking about Blake)s painting% The Ancient of Days is the title of one of his paitings%
originally published as the frontispiece to a 1<>B work% Europe a Prophecy. 8arly critics of
Blake noted the work as amongst his best% and a fa#ourite of the artist himself. The subject is
said to ha#e been one of the '#isions' experienced by Blake and that he took an especial
pleasure in producing the prints.
This was the last design to be repeated by his hand. $n his deathbed he executed it for
his young friend :r. Tatham. The latter refers to the incident in a letter published in 1=CD% in
the +-ossetti 6apers,:
+The Ancient of Days with the compasses was the subject that Blake finished for me on his
deathbed. e threw it down and said% EThere% / hope :r. Tatham will like it%) and then said%
EFate% / will draw your portrait; you ha#e been a good wife to me.) "nd he made a fren'ied
sketch of her% which% when done% he sang himself joyously and most happily*literally with
songs*into the arms of the grim enemy% and yielded up his sweet spirit.,
The conception is of sublimity and boldness% and in the execution of this particular
plate the colour is laid on with great care% being shaded and stippled to a high degree of finish.
The attitude of the "rchitect of the &ni#erse is heroic% and is characteristic of Blake in his best
manner. (eaning far out from the centre of the sun itself% a grand male figure% with hair and
beard streaming in the wind of cosmic motion% measures the space below him with a compass%
indicating the orbit on which the world is to tra#el.
The design itself is one of the finest that e#er came from Blake)s hand. The thing is
tremendousG /n#oluntarily the mind seeks for its like only on the roof of the ;istine. Blake)s
art owns no master% links itself to no predecessor% sa#e :ichael "ngelo.
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The innerness of art; that is what 2illiam Blake was concerned about. /mpetuously%
passionately he stormed along the rugged track he had set himself to explore% ignoring much
of beauty and truth to either side of him% because his eyes were so steadfastly fixed on his
goal. Today we acclaim him as the heroic and de#oted priest of a new and yet old altar to art%
the flame of which has been kept burning since his time by 4ante 0abriel -ossetti and the
6re--aphaelites% and :r. 0. 9. 2atts.
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