William Blake Research Paper

As a forerunner to the free-love movement, late eighteenth century poet, engraver, and artist, William Blake (1757-1827), has clear sexual overtones in many of his poems, and he layers his work with sexual double entendres and symbolism. Within the discussion of sexuality in his work Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake seems to take a complicated view of women. His speakers use constructs of contraries, specifically innocence/ experience and male/female. Of the latter sex, he experiments with the passive (dependent, docile, virtuous) and active (independent, evil, a threat to the masculine) female subjects. Blake’s use of personification specifically of nature and botany suggest the use of nature to discuss human society. In Songs

The Romantics, like William Blake and Lord Byron, put emphasis on feelings and moral sensitivity hoping to make their readers better people by doing so, which influenced a significant change in what people thought made a hero a hero. In other words, they set a new standard for people through their works. This new idea of a hero eventually became known as the Byronic hero, named after the Romantic poet Lord Byron. Romantic writers used their imagination and talent to help redefine the values of society, setting a new standard of what it means to be a hero.

The late eighteenth-century marked the start of the Industrial Revolution that took London by storm, bringing new technological and economic progress to the once agrarian society. However, with this revolution came severe corruption and poverty overlooked by the new-found prosperity these advancements brought. Outraged by the corruption creeping its way into London’s society, William Blake, a romantic poet, became a vocal social critic, focusing on the injustices of child labor. Blake used his poetry to reveal the harsh realities of lower class children in eighteenth-century London, and to critique the role organized religion and society, which he believed was the source that failed these children. Blake saw childhood as a state of infinite

William Blake’s radical thoughts and unconventional ideals led him to a life full of ridicule by critics. However, despite being unappreciated during the eighteenth century, he was quite a brilliant man who was ahead of his time. As a man who questioned the social norms of his period, his poetry pushed the boundaries of literature. He criticized slavery, religion, and the monarchy and he even analyzed human psychology in many of his works. Some of his famous poems include “Garden of Love”, “The Tyger”, “A Poison Tree”, and “The Little Black Boy”. Each of these poems depict Blake’s strong opinions and observations of the world around him. For instance, “Garden of Love” is interpreted as a poem where Blake expresses

Through “A Poison Tree,” William Blake conveys that hatred will grow into something harmful and overwhelming. The use of diction expresses this theme because in the poem William Blake uses the word wrath throughout the poem which leads people to think that the poem

William Blake was a painter, engraver and poet of the Romantic era, who lived and worked in London. Many of Blake’s famous poems reside in his published collection of poems titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This collection portrays the two different states of the human soul, good and evil. Many poems in the Songs of Innocence have a counterpart poem in the Songs of Experience. The poem “A Poison Tree” is found in the Songs of Experience and it delves into the mind of man tainted with sin and corruption that comes with experience. In a simple and creative style, the religious theology of the Fall of Man is brought to life. The poem tells the story of how man fell from a state of innocence to impurity, focusing on the harmful repercussions of suppressed anger. Blake utilities many literary devices to successfully characterizes anger as an antagonist with taunting power.

William Blake was born in 1757, the third son of a London hosier. Blake lived in or near to London, a city which dominates much of his work, whether as the nightmare 'London' of the Songs of Experience, or the London which Blake saw as the 'New Jerusalem', the kingdom of God on earth.

The Romantic Period contained an overabundance of body hating in the orthodox Christian mentality. William Blake had apathy for organized religion because of how restrictive it was. Orthodox Christianity impacts social and sexual issues, prevalent in sonnets: My Pretty Rose Tree, The Sick Rose, The Garden of Love, Ah! Sun-flower and A Poison Tree. All these sonnets are from the experience section of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. Each share common features of faltering innocence, experience and deception. By comparing these sonnets, it is apparent nature is a metaphor for a religion which is at the pinnacle of social and sexual issues. Blake’s quote links to the idea that nature indicates growth as a general idea, from innocence to experience; “as the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys” (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell l.16-17)

Poetry is a form of writing that lets the writer have the ability to express themselves in a creative way. This allows the reader to be moved in a way that other literary works cannot. It’s no wonder that poetry has been around for a very long time. With the likes of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Homer, who helped shaped poetry in some way, we often forget those who created wonderful works of art. One of those writers is William Blake. Much of Blake’s inspirations for his poems came from his childhood. Blake had begun having visions when he was around the age of four. He had even once claimed that he had seen God standing right next to his window. Aside from his visions, Blake had a religious upbringing, in which his parents had treated his visions as a gift. It’s easy for one to assume that his upbringing had a huge influence in his poems, as often times one can feel a sense of religious undertones in his writing. To help explore this concept, I will compare and contrast two of Blake's works, “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.” In this essay, I will examine and analyze both poems’ structures, the writing styles of both poems, and give my personal opinion on each of the poems’ purpose.

Strong super natural elements are found in “ The Chimney Sweeper” when an angle coffins with the golden key redeeming the chimneysweeper. In 1794 Blake`s work Song of Experience, offers a set of companion pieces that talk about the identical subject matters with a more experienced and knowing perspective. Blake wrote these two individual pieces to show his audience two completely different perspectives in the understanding of God, love and justice as an innocent child in Song of Innocence and as an experience grow adult in Song of Experience. Instead of looking at these poems a characterizing them in two dueling categories such as good vs. evil. We need to realize that both innocence and experience are important elements that have become separate from each other. We need to realize that both are needed to complete each other, much as male and female. Romantic poets had a strong way in which they showed their emotional expression; Blake used repetitious phrases in order to be able to highlight his emotions.

“Journeys are the essential text of the human experience- the journey from birth to death, from innocence to wisdom, from ignorance to knowledge, from where we start and where we end.”

Masterful poets can make the ordinary artful, find deeper meaning in simplicity, and draw hopeful conclusions from the darkest of events. William Blake is no exception to this, and his mastery of poetry becomes apparent in “A Poison Tree”, the best poem ever written. In this poem, Blake creates a masterful metaphor, strengthened by his use of simple language, sound devices, and choice of meter, conveying an impactful message at the end. The simplistic yet pleasant style in which Blake conveys an exceedingly dark message truly makes him the best poet.

Though an esteemed painter in his day, William Blake achieves most of his fame through his profound poetry. Born in 1757, Blake grew up in London, England along with his five siblings (“William Blake”). Even from the beginning of his childhood, Blake always held the strong desire to become an artist (“William Blake”). As he grew up, he apprenticed first as an engraver and then later as a painter (“William Blake”). However, even though he set out to become an artist and took little interest in publishing his poems during his lifetime, Blake’s source of fame today comes from his exceptional poetry. In fact many English classes today, from elementary to college, challenge their students to analyse the complexity and depth of Blake’s poems, including one of his most famous works, “The Tyger”. Published in Blake’s collection of poems titled Songs of Experience in 1794, “The Tyger” depicts a poem that on the surface appears simple in its subject matter of a tiger, but in reality, paints a much deeper picture of a fearful, fiery beast (“William Blake”). In his poem “The Tyger”, William Blake uses poetic structure, literary devises,

William Blake was an English engraver, artist and poet who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries. His works were not famous while the author was alive. But the situation changed after Blake’s death. It has been affirmed that the author’s acknowledgment started to develop after the publication of Alexander Gilchrist’s book Life and Works of William Blake. Blake’s poems assured people’s interest. One of his most famous poetic collections is the Songs of Innocence and Experience. This essay will analyze two works from this cycle – poems The Lamb and The Tiger. Many experts believe that these two works are the most famous examples of Blake’s poems and English literature.

Have you ever heard of a guy name William Blake? No, if not I can tell you things about him. William Blake was born over his father’s modest history shop at Broad Street, Golden Square, London. His dad name was James Blake and his mother name was Catherin Wright Armitage Blake. Did Blake have any Brother and Sisters? Yes he had four brothers and one sister their names are: John Blake, Richard Blake, James Blake, John William, and Catherin Elizabeth (A1). William Blake father was a prosperous hosier. He encouraged young Blake’s artistic tastes and sent him to drawing school. At the age of 14 Blake was apprenticed to James Basire, Whom he stayed until 1778. After he left Royal Academy. In 1782 he married Catherine Bouncher, Whom he taught to