William Blake appunti liceo | Appunti di Inglese

William Blake

● 1757

● London

● briefly attended school / educated at home, by his mother

● deeply influenced by the bible → since he was very young

= it remained a source of inspiration

● he created his own mythology and symbolism → with a visionary religious feeling

● another thing that influenced him → he experienced visions since he was very young

● his artistic talent → emerged when he was young

● he became → an apprentice to an engraver

= drawings of tombs and monuments → developing love of Gothic Art

● he became: an engraver

● also → career as a painter

● 1783: Poetical Sketches → collection of poems and drawings / considering poetical

and artistic elements inseparable

● 1790-93: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell → prose texts that expressed his

revolutionary beliefs / he describes the poet’s descent in hell → influenced by Dante’s

Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise lost / unified vision of the cosmos, with material

world and physical desire being both part of the divine order

● 1791: The french revolution → poetic history of events

● 1793: America, a Prophecy → prophetic book on the struggle of the colonies against

an oppressive king

● 1789 → he publishes the set of poems Songs of innocence / followed by 1793 Songs

of experience

● 1794: reprinted in a single volume: Songs of Innocence and Experience showing the

Two Contrary States of the Human Soul

● engraver → he illustrated the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible

● 1804: Jerusalem → long prophetic work

● he was unappreciated in life → considered an unfortunate lunatic

● 1827

● considered as a → pre-romantic

Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794)

- contrast between: pastoral world of childhood / adult world of corruption

- it explores two different perspectives of the world

- many poems → are in pairs (Lamb / Tyger)

- some of th S. of Innocence → from the child perspective / other → about children

seen from an adult perspective

- S. of Experience → the way in which adult experiences destroy what is good in

innocence / also → point out the weakness in the innocent perspective

- critical of both State and Church

- critic of the Industrial revolution

- supporter of the French revolution

- deeply religious man → but he accused the church as an institution

- man has in himself → both love and hate / as complementary opposites, without

which there is no progress

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William Blake ● 1757 ● London ● briefly attended school / educated at home, by his mother ● deeply influenced by the bible → since he was very young = it remained a source of inspiration ● he created his own mythology and symbolism → with a visionary religious feeling ● another thing that influenced him → he experienced visions since he was very young ● his artistic talent → emerged when he was young ● he became → an apprentice to an engraver = drawings of tombs and monuments → developing love of Gothic Art ● he became: an engraver ● also → career as a painter ● 1783: Poetical Sketches → collection of poems and drawings / considering poetical and artistic elements inseparable ● 1790-93: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell → prose texts that expressed his revolutionary beliefs / he describes the poet’s descent in hell → influenced by Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise lost / unified vision of the cosmos, with material world and physical desire being both part of the divine order ● 1791: The french revolution → poetic history of events ● 1793: America, a Prophecy → prophetic book on the struggle of the colonies against an oppressive king ● 1789 → he publishes the set of poems Songs of innocence / followed by 1793 Songs of experience ● 1794: reprinted in a single volume: Songs of Innocence and Experience showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul ● engraver → he illustrated the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible ● 1804: Jerusalem → long prophetic work ● he was unappreciated in life → considered an unfortunate lunatic ● 1827 ● considered as a → pre-romantic Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794)

contrast between: pastoral world of childhood / adult world of corruption
it explores two different perspectives of the world
many poems → are in pairs (Lamb / Tyger)
some of th S. of Innocence → from the child perspective / other → about children seen from an adult perspective
S. of Experience → the way in which adult experiences destroy what is good in innocence / also → point out the weakness in the innocent perspective
critical of both State and Church
critic of the Industrial revolution
supporter of the French revolution
deeply religious man → but he accused the church as an institution
man has in himself → both love and hate / as complementary opposites, without which there is no progress

visionary → he believes man could know everything only through imagination
so → only God, children and the poet → have this power of imagination
style → simple and direct
but ideas → often very complicated / expressed with symbolism and abstract concepts THE LAMB
celebration of the Lamb → symbolic animal representing purity and innocence
the poet is addressing a little lamb, asking him who made him / the lamb doesn’t know, the poet tells he’ll tell him / the poet
the creator shares with the lamb → the name (he’s called by his name) and the fact that he’s meek and mild
the poet and the creator are united by → the fact that the creator became a child, and the poet himself is like a child
the poet and the lamb are united by → the fact that they are both called by the creator’s name
the poem ends with the idea that the poet himself is both a creator and a child ● he uses the pen to create ● he’s a child because he was created by god THE TYGER
it represents the tyger → symbol of powerful perfection and strength
the poet is speaking to the tyger / the tyger never replies / blake admires the perfection and the physical strength of the tyger / then he wonders if the creator of the tyger is the same as the lamb
the action takes place → in the forest at night + in distant deeps or skies
the physical characteristics of the tyger produce → fear
the poet asks the tyger → which immortal creator made him
there’s an oxymoron → fearful symmetry: frightening but fascinating
differences between the lamb and the tyger ● lamb: pure and innocent ● tyger: strong and fearful
similarities → both god’s creatures
all the questions → are about the origin of the two animals and who made them
complementary poems
the lamb → the speaker could be a child or the poet himself
first stanza → he asks the lamb about its origin
second stanza → he offers an answer / the lamb was made by one who is similar to the lamb and the poet himself
the creator, the child and the poet → perfectly coincide / because they are innocent, meek and tender
the tyger → also structured around questions about the animal's origin
nature reflects his creator → so the question is about what kind of god would have the will and power to create such a beautiful but terrifying and powerful creature

William Blake appunti liceo, Appunti di Inglese

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