Right away one can tell that William Blake is going to be an eccentric writer. Along with being warned that his writing is very deep and hard to understand, his visions of “God’s face pressing against his window, seeing angels among the haystacks, and being visited by the Old Testament prophet Ezekial,” show some of his influences. His family life had a lot to do with the way he wrote, including the major part of religion his mother put on him. Also, since he was very artistic, his imagination played a crucial role in his writing. In “The Chimney Sweeper”, Blake tells the saddening story of little boys being thrown out on the streets, trying to survive. I think that the story of these kids trying to survive and the communal bond they shared was Blake’s way of contrasting them to the French Revolution. The lower class was trying to survive and revolution was the only was to do so.
“And by came an Angel who had a bright key
And he open’d the coffins & set them all free.”
This is Burke’s way of contrasting the Angel with the Revolution. With this Angel would come equality and individual rights.
Upon reading a “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” I really didn’t know what to think. Maybe it had to do with his struggle with religion or maybe his marriage. I think that it combines all of these themes and some we are not supposed to decipher.
“An Angel came to me and said, O pitiable foolish young man! O horrible! O dreadful state! Consider the hot burning dungeon thou art preparing for thyself to all eternity, to which thou art going in such career.”
Blake’s background of religion make be catching up to him in his later life. I think maybe he is not fulfilled with being a writer and these visions are talking to him. He tries in making it comical but maybe pride is getting in the way.
3 comments:
Jason,
Blake is a very challenging author to understand, and I appreciate your attempt to get at his message. You are best off looking at what he says, but even then he is not the easiest person to understand.
For this posting I think you ought to have focused on one or two poems and to have dug deeper into them. You start with a great deal of summary about Blake, and then make some scattered observations about several of his writings, but you don't really allow room to follow up your comments and discuss them.
jaoson
i agree with you that Blake is a very essentric writer that is often difficult to get. I thought that your comparison of "The Chimney Sweeper" to the French Revolution was interesting, however i am not sure that i agree with it. But who can tell with Blake? I think you had some good ideas and i enjoyed hearing your perspective on Blake.
William Blake's work was hard for me to understand. Your interpretation of "The Chimney Sweeper" was interesting. I had not thought about the French Revolution. I agree that your ideas were good.
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