During the British Romantic period, some writers used material from the Bible or imitated the Bible in style of writing or content. William Blake, a Romantic writer, engraver, and painter, believed that “the Bible was the greatest work of poetry ever written” (Barker 2004). The Bible influenced him throughout this life, specifically influencing both his writing and his art. There are many references to Biblical themes within his writing, and there are also many references to specific passages of Scripture (Barker 2004).
The lines “O thou, with dewy locks, who looked down / Thro’ the clear windows of the morning . . .” (1-2) in William Blake’s poem “To Spring” give a picture of the window from the Bible. “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by . . .” (King James Bible, Josh. 2.18). The hills mentioned in the line “Come o’er the eastern hills . . .” (9) echo the hills written about in the Song of Solomon. “. . . Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon this hills” (2.8).
In the poem “The Lamb,” William Blake writes about a child and a Lamb. Jesus Christ is this Lamb. In John, it is written “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” (1.36). This is echoed in the line of the poem that says, “For he calls himself a Lamb” (14). The next line of the poem states that “He is meek & he is mild” (15). Jesus is meek as well as mild. This is stated in the Gospel of Matthew. “. . . I am meek and lowly in heart . . .” (11.29). The poem also states that “He became a little child” (16). Jesus came to earth as a child to live among mankind. This is stated by the prophet Isaiah. “For unto us ...
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... Museum of Art. 2004. 8 March 2011. Web.
Blake, William. “Songs of Experience: London.” Bloom and Trilling 26-27. Print.
Blake, William. “Songs of Experience: To Tirzah.” Bloom and Trilling 28-29. Print.
Blake, William. “Songs of Innocence: Holy Thursday.” Bloom and Trilling 22. Print.
Blake, William. “Songs of Innocence: The Lamb.” Bloom and Trilling 19. Print.
Blake, William. “The Book of Thel.” Bloom and Trilling 29-33, Plates 1-6. Print.
Blake, William. “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” Bloom and Trilling 34-44, Plates 1-21. Print.
Blake, William. “To Spring.” Bloom and Trilling 14-15. Print.
Bloom, Harold, and Lionel Trilling, Eds. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: Romantic Poetry and Prose. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Print.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005. Print.
Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
baby then calls itself joy so that it can be happy and live a joyful
In the poem, "The Lamb," from Songs of Innocence, William Blake asks the little lamb, "Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?" (1351). It is here where the author purposely questions the reader and leaves the reader, wandering for an answer to that precise question. The author then continues by leading the reader to an indirect possible answer to his question by saying "Little Lamb I'll tell thee! / He is called by thy name, / For he calls himself a Lamb" and proceeds a line later with "He became a little child; / I a child & thou a lamb." It is apparent that he doesn't exactly give a direct answer. He mentions in an roundabout way that the lamb's creator calls himself a Lamb and that he became a little child. This vague background provides an idea who the creator actually is, but not enough to somehow match the creator with God from the biblical texts. And, since the information is vague, the reader really can't come to a narrowed conclusion because the answer itself depends on the reader's beliefs and experiences and so therefore leaves the true answer to the question still unanswered.
Mark’s portrait of Jesus as a servant originates from the middle of the first century, Mark wrote his gospel during this time of persecution because the people being oppressed lacked faith that God would provide for them. Mark gives them the model of Jesus as a man submissive to the Lord so that they can receive salvation if they remain faithful to the servant of God. Mark stresses that Jesus is a suffering Messiah with the passage concerning Jesus praying to God that “Abba(Father), all things are po...
“The lamb is made by Christ and is an obvious symbol of the mild and gentle aspects of
William Blake is remembered by his poetry, engravements, printmaking, and paintings. He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain on November 28, 1757. William was the third of seven siblings, which two of them died from infancy. As a kid he didn’t attend school, instead he was homeschooled by his mother. His mother thought him to read and write. As a little boy he was always different. Most kids of his age were going to school, hanging out with friends, or just simply playing. While William was getting visions of unusual things. At the age of four he had a vision of god and when he was nine he had another vision of angles on trees.
Nurmi, Martin K. "Joy, Love, and Innocence in Blake's “The Mental Traveller"" William Blake: The Politics of Vision (1946): 81-82. Web
His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War” (E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work. One of Blake’s most famous works is The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience. In this collection, Blake illuminates the naive hopes and fears that inform the lives of children and follow them into adulthood.... ...
who are at the center of his work? If they are Contraries, then what does the
Bloom, Harold. "Critical Analysis Of "The Tyger " Bloom's Major Poets: William Blake. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York, NY: Chelsea House, 2003. 17-19.
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
"Open Book Newsletter No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature by Peter J. Leithart January, 1991." Biblical Horizons » No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
(Isaiah 9:6) "For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, the prince of peace.
" The Lamb" in trying to convey the answers to certain philosophical questions exhibits basic Christian creedal statements. and relays certain images concerning Jesus and also tries to explain His relation to the common man. The opening line of the poem embodies every human's curiosities. surrounding creation and the origins of human existence.
LaGuardia, Cheryl. "WILLIAM BLAKE: SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE." Library Journal 128.9 (2003): 140. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 July 2011.