William Blake

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Letteratura Inglese
Voto:	2.5 (2)
Download:	1492
Data:	26.02.2009
Numero di pagine:	3
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

William Blake
Life: he was born in London in 1757 and when he was 10 years old, his father sent him to a drawing school where he became interested to the works of Michelangelo; he started to drawn the monuments in the old churches of London, especially Westminster Abbey. In this period he studied at the Royal Academy of arts and married Catherine Boucher, who helped him in his work as an engraver. The William Haley offered him patronage, but their relationship wasn’t successful in fact Blake spent the rest of his life in poverty. He died in 1827, but after his death some critics understood his qualities.
Main Work: his works can be divided into 3 groups, but the earliest ones are the best known:
-Poetical Sketches, in which he refuses Augustan taste and is influenced by Shakespeare and Milton;
-Songs of Innocence, in which the childhood is the symbol of innocence;
-Songs of Experience, in which there is a pessimistic view of life;
-The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Hell and Satan represent liberty and energy;
-The French Revolution;
-The Visions of the Daughters of Albion;
-America, that is a political work.
The second group of works shows Blake’s elaboration of a personal mythology and the third one his mythological conception, in fact they are called “prophetic books”.
Influences on Blake’s works. The two most important influences in Blake’s life were the Bible and Milton because of their total vision of the world.
Complementary opposites. Blake regarded Christianity and the Church as responsible for the fragmentation of man’s life; he substituted a vision made up of “complementary opposites”, in fact he believe that Reason, Energy, Love, Hate and Repulsion are necessary to human existence and these states consist in the figure of the Creator.
Imagination and the poet. Blake believed that men could know the world thanks to the imagination, which is called “the Divine Vision” that means “to see more” into the life things.
Blake’s interest in social problems. Blake supported the abolition of slavery and believed in French Revolution as purifying violence for redemption of man, later, he payed attention on the Industrial Revolution because he didn’t approve the injustices caused by a materialistic attitude.
Symbolism. His poems present a very simple structure and a use of symbols, in fact he anticipated the great Romantic poets. These symbols are: the child, the father and the Christ, whiches represent the states of innocence and experience.
Legend of Dedalo and Icaro. Dedalo was an architect, in fact he built a great labyrinth for the King Minosse, in which was made prisoner the monster called Minotauro. Dedalo said Arianna, the daughter of Minosse, the stratagem of the ball of woll to escape from this labyrinth. Minosse was very angry and imprisoned Dedalo and his son, called Icaro, in the labyrinth. Then, Dedalo built some wings for him and Icaro and they manage to escape; during the flight, the sun burned Icaro’s wings and he threw in the ocean. At the end, Icaro died and Dedalo arrived in Sicily.
Legend of Prometeo. Prometeo had to create, with his brother, the human beings and the animals. Prometeo wanted to make human beings better than animals, in fact he took a torch of fire from the sun: it was the best of the gifts for men! But, Zeus was very angry for his attitude.

The Lamb. This poem is taken from “Songs of Innocence” in fact the main theme is the innocence. The speaking voice is Blake and the addressee is the little lamb. The poem is divided into two stanza: in the first one there are many expressions referring to the real nature of the animal and there are many qualities of the Creator of the Lamb, like the generosity and the goodness. In the second stanza Blake associates the Lamb with the Child, talking about the divine power of the Creation and the Innocence of the Lamb. In line 18 he established an important link because he connects the Creator, the Lamb and the Man. Each stanza presents a different syntactic structure, because the first one is written in questions and the second one in answers. In the poem there are also many particular words that are written in Blake’s original spelling: thee (you), dost (do), thou (you) and thy (your) and there are also many repetitions in each stanza.
The tyger. This poem is taken from “Songs of Experience”. The speaking voice is Blake and the addressee is the tiger. The poem is divided into six stanza: in the second one the poet refers to two classical myths, the myth of Dedalo and Icaro and the myth of Prometeo. In the fifth stanza the poet talks about the fallen angels, who surrendered because they were very afraid to the power of God, this Creator is opposite to the Creator of the Lamb because is immortal, powerful, superior to the common man. The first stanza and the last one are very similar. The main syntactic structures of the poem are just questions, but there are also repetitions.