William Blake (1757-1822)
LIFE:
•Born into a family of humble origin in 1757"
•Trained as en engraver, he practiced this craft until he died "
•Was deeply aware of the great political and social issues of his age "
•He was influenced by the different revolution of his period like French Revolution, Industrial
Revolution, English revolution "
•He supported the French Revolution and remained a radical throughout his life "
◦Supported abolition of slavery and egalitarian principles "
•He claimed he had visions "
•Died in 1827"
BLAKE ARTIST:
•He was an artist "
◦He studied the works of Raphael and Michelangelo (technique of representing exaggerated
muscular bodied), the Westminster Abbey in London, he studied at the Royal Academy of Art "
◦Caratteristiche: "
✦Connected visual arts and writing, creating “illuminated printing” a combination of picture
and poetic text."
✦Made many illustrations for other authors works"
◦THE ANCIENT OF DAYS"
✦the colors are bright and God is represented in an unusual position "
✦Act of the creation"
✦The light is the symbol of energy and divine power "
◦THE WHIRLWIND OF LOVERS"
✦subject is taken from Commedia "
✦pathos and dramatic representation of the dead souls "
✦The colours are duller and darken "
✦Dynamism "
✦Sad"
•Strong sense of religion (he was influenced by Bible)"
◦In many paintings have religious subjects "
◦He drew illustrations for the Bible and a cycle of drawings inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy"
BLAKE WRITER:
•Individual poet"
◦Wrote prophetic books (libri profetici)"
◦Express romantic and revolutionary beliefs "
◦Published engraves plates (lastre incise) contains prose, poetry and illustrations "
•Explored the timeless struggle (lotta senza tempo) between the role of law and reason and
the power of love and imagination "
•Used symbols as l’art of a deliberate attempt to avoid any kind of realism (evitare realismo)"
•COMPLEMENTARY OPPOSITES "
◦Blake believed in the reality of a spiritual world but he thought that Christianity was
responsible for the fragmentation of consciousness and the dualism charactering man’s
life
◦Good and evil, male and female,e, reason and imagination, cruelty and kindness "
•WHO IS THE POET? "
◦Become a sort of prophet who can see more deeply (vedere più profondamente) into
reality and who also tries to warn (avvisare) man against the evils of society "
•STYLE:"
◦Uses complex symbolism,but language and syntax are simple"
◦Adopts an apparently naive style using a plain, Anglo-Saxon vocabulary typical of ballads,
children’s song and hymns (inni)"
•IMAGINATION:"
◦Imagination= the means through (mezzo attraverso il quale) which man can know the world "
