William Blake: Sane or Mad?
"[There] is no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in his madness which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott," William Wordsworth said in reference to William Blake. Blake, unlike other writers, was born and lived in moderate ways, with many talents; he lived throughout the romantic period, and wrote many of the greatest and controversial poems of his time including "The Lamb" and "The Tyger." These poems are from two books known as the Songs of Innocence and Experience. Blake, as well as a writer was also a very great painter, engraver, and printer. William Blake failed to receive the credit he deserved until long after his death. William Blake was born the second of five children in London on November 28, 1757. Blake was son to James Blake, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. He lived most of his life in poverty. At an early age Blake was an apprentice to James Basire, an engraver, which encouraged Blake to enroll in his only formal schooling at the Royal Academy of Arts for a very short period of time. In 1782 William Blake married Catherine Boucher, a daughter of a market gardener. Catherine was illiterate and she signed the marriage certi
One well-known poem from the Songs of Innocence is "The Lamb." William Blake used his philosophic knowledge in writing the poem. In the first two lines of the poem Blake asks, "Little Lamb who made thee doust thou know who made thee?" Blake starts the poem with this question and then goes on by describing how wonderful the lamb is by showing that the creator gave the lamb life, food, fleece as clothing, and a "tender voice." In the second stanza describing the creator of the lamb, Blake writes, "He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb." If you were to take the quote literally rather than philosophically it would mean nothing, but Blake is meaning for the "He" to be Jesus Christ. Blake in saying that Christ calls himself a Lamb is referring to what is know as "pass over." Anderson describes pass over as being when the Israelites spread blood of a lamb on their door posts so the angel of God would "pass over" their homes and not kill their first born sons (622). Jesus Christ is referred to as the Paschal Lamb because he was God's first born son and sacrificed his life. So in the poem the lamb is not only literally a lamb, but is also a symbol of innocence, purity and meekness (622). This is the reason that Blake wrote "The Lamb" in his book with the Songs of Innocence. The Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Expressions were two books with sets of poems that William Blake published. Each book was published individually, but in 1794 the two were combined with a subtitle "Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul." Blake's thoughts on the Innocence State is well described by Anderson in saying "Blake conceived [Innocence State] as state of genuine love, and naive trust toward all humankind, accompanied by unquestioned belief in Christian doctrine" (620). He describes the Innocence State as not knowing any harm, and trusting everyone including their beliefs and principles because of what they were taught. In the introduction of Song of innocence Blake writes "And I made a rural pen, And I stain'd the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs, Every child my hear." Blake describes the joy of these little children that he writes about and how clueless they are of the world around them. William Blake lived throughout a period of time called the Romantic period. He was partially responsible for bringing about the Romantic Movement in poetry. The Romantic Period is the shortest period of English literary history starting in 1798 and ending in 1832. The period was split up into two generation of writers, the first including Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. The second generation consisted of Shelley, Keats, and Byron. The first generation, which Blake was a part of, looked at Milton and Shakespeare for their inspiration. Although Blake was considered a Romantic, Anderson tells that his life was not as "romantic" or "poetic" as Coleridge, Shelley, or Keats (617). He seems less "poetic" and "romantic" because unlike the other Romantics, he was a full time professional artist. This and his older age kept him away
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Approximate Word count = 2070
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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