A poet does not achieve the highest levels of success until generations and generations after his death have critiqued and recognized his works of art, as seen by the revered poet William Blake. He lived and crafted his finest masterpieces during the era of Romanticism, which is marked by the earliest poems of William Blake in 1783 (Anthology, pg 3). Along with Wordsworth, modern poetry was created (Anthology, pg 8). During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, poetry that described nature and landscapes emerged. Blake was a somewhat ambitious artist who questioned the world and rebelled against tradition and customs. He saw these aspects of life troubling because he did not always agree with the way in which society pressured him to conform. Although Blake did eventually marry, his marriage went through tumultuous periods, sometimes filled with sexual jealousy. This can be interpreted in the “Sick Rose”. William Blake could be characterized as an antinomian. He was a person who based his own religion and morality based on personal experiences with God, or a higher power (Notes, 6/27). His individualistic approach to life can be seen in his modernizing work Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
One of the more difficult works of Blake to assess is the pair of poems Holy Thursday. The first and most obvious difference between these poems is the way in which they are constructed. In Songs of Innocence, Blake is telling a story that merely explains the irony behind Holy Thursday, which is the fortieth day after Easter. The children he is referring to that are wearing red and blue and green are actually chimney sweepers. The irony is that the Church, who in an ideal society has a moral obligation to assist ...
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.... Although these sets of poems contrast each other, they do enrich and compliment the other by taking the same feelings and manipulating them. For instance, the exploitation was seen in Songs of Innocence as sad and depressing, while in Songs of Experience the same exploitation was seen as angry, bitter, and deeply questioned by Blake. Ultimately, I believe these poems reflect different times in William’s Blake’s life when he could have been at peace and also frustrated with life in general and its meaning.
Works Cited
Kermode, Frank, and Hollander, John. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature: 1800 to the Present. Oxford University Press: London, 1973.
Poet’s Corner. www.theotherpages.org/poems/blake02.html. Accessed: 12 July 2007.
Shelson, John. Engl 212-British Literature II: Class Notes. Professor Craig Laird: Drexel University, 27 June 2007.
Martha Graham following Mary Wigman choreographed to the “essentialized” body through using the breath, contractions, human emotion, and so on. Martha Graham believed the pulsation of life came from the breath (6). This breath represented the soul. Graham’s breath is controlled by the contraction and release upon which her choreography was based. Graham also went on to state, “Art is eternal for it reveals the inner landscape of a man” (4). Dancing from the inside of your soul out is what Graham wanted her dancers to do. In own opinion e access our soul through surrendering to the divine power of God, which starts by connecting to our breath. Isadora Duncan danced with a connectedness of her body and soul completely inspired by nature. Graham
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. p. 2256
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
When functioning as a noun, the word clog firstly appeared in 1325 with the meaning of a block or lump tied to anything for use or ornament. Since then, the meaning of clog underwent changes from time to time. For instances, from 13th century to 19th century, clog can also refers to as a thick piece of wood; a short piece of the trunk, or of a large root, of a tree; a block, clump or a wooden-soled overshoe or sandal worn (chiefly by women) in some localities, to protect the feet from wet and dirt.
Many African Americans were forced to live in poverty, because the events of neo-slavery after Post-Civil War, resulted to seemingly unavoidable poverty, given that their economic and social wellbeing were mostly influenced by the decisions of the whites, rather than the their own decisions. Hence, the many blacks become the stagnant component of the United States society; because even though after they gained freedom they were depicted ‘free people’, in reality they were still the same people not free from slavery, as a result most of them languished in poverty. I believe that this actions of enslaving African Americans through this system is what has led to the present state of things whereby many blacks are still poor because just like in the post-civil war times different forms of enslaving blacks have been put in place for example imprisoning through racial profiling and the concentrating of blacks in inner cities where there are not that many resources such as good schools, social facilities and good jobs which leads to crime and wasting of these people and a criminal justice system that seems to work against black
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
From childhood he was unlike those around him. He went to school to study art and found his love of poetry. From his early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions. He spoke of seeing God and the Angels. He married his with Catherine Boucher in 1782. His brother, Robert died, but this is where Blake got a lot of inspiration for his work. In 1789 Blake wrote and illustrated the popular Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in 1794. His poetry was extremely non-conformist and focused on imagination, rather than reason. Both works have many common parallels and themes. His poetry also deals with the common aspect of a romanticism work; it has moments of sin, suffering and salvation. In Songs of Innocence, The Chimney Sweeper, it is a heartbreaking poem about the young children that were forced into doing labor as chimneysweepers. Mostly because they were the only ones small enough to fit in the spaces and they were sold into that work. It was damaging and cruel how they treated these children and Blake writes about it in such a powerful way. In the first stanza alone the reader learns about the difficult life and the suffering this child has had to overcome, “When my mother died when I was young, my father sold me while yet my tongue…so, your Chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep.” (Songs of Innocence) This poor child is portrayed so innocently and gentle, yet leads this suffering unfortunate life. People treated
Ricky Franklin Smith was convicted for the breaking and entering that he plead guilty for. At the time of sentencing, the presentence investigation report contained his juvenile criminal record which was supposed to be automatically expunged. Smith appealed that he should be resentenced due to the presentence investigation report. The argument was to whether or not grant Smith the resentencing. In two previous cases, both arguments were made. In People v. Price ruled that the juvenile record that is automatically expunged, could not be considered at the time of sentencing or used in the presentence investigation report. On the other hand, in People v. Jones, the court ruled that it could be considered at the time of sentencing and used in the presentence investigation report. “The majority concluded that Price presented the better-reasoned approach. They added that the automatic expungement of juvenile convictions "is delusive and purposeless if law enforcement agencies may continue to use supposedly expunged records against a defendant to his prejudice. Following the Jones approach effectively subverts MCR 5.913."[7] The dissenting judge said that he believed that Jones represented "the better-reasoned analysis."[8]” (Justia.Law, 2015).
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 2308. Print.
Early Feudalism started after the fall of the Roman Empire, which led to no law being in place protecting the poor people who then turned to the lord of the manor for protection which saw the beginning of Feudalism.
William Blake, was born in 1757 and died in 1827, created the poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell. Blake grew up in a poor environment. He studied to become an Engraver and a professional artist. His engraving took part in the Romanticism era. The Romanticism is a movement that developed during the 18th and early 19th century as a reaction against the Restoration and Enlightenment periods focuses on logic and reason. Blake’s poetry would focus on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision consists in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery animals and man.
William Blake is a literature genius. Most of his work speaks volume to the readers. Blake’s poem “The Mental Traveller” features a conflict between a male and female that all readers can relate to because of the lessons learned as you read. The poet William Blake isn’t just known for just writing. He was also a well-known painter and a printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of poetry. His poems are from the Romantic age (The end of the 18th Century). He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain. He was the third of seven children. Even though Blake was such an inspiration as a writer he only went to school just enough to read and write. According to Bloom’s critical views on William Blake; one of Blake’s inspirations was the Bible because he believed and belonged to the Moravian Church.
Abrams, MH, et al. Eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.
Although both Blake and Wordsworth show childhood as a state of greater innocence and spiritual vision, their view of its relationship with adulthood differs - Blake believes that childhood is crushed by adulthood, whereas Wordsworth sees childhood living on within the adult. In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults is placed in opposition to one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states “’I am happy, Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5).