WILLIAM BLAKE

lingue

WILLIAM BLAKE

. William Blake was born in London in 1757 from a middleclass family.

He frequented a drawing school and he apprenticed  to an engraver.

In 1789 he published his first work: Songs of Innocence

The sale of this work was not a success and so, he worked to illustrate the works of other authors to earn.

The so-called Prophetic Books are a collection of his other works that expressed his belief in the poet as prophet and his sympathy for revolutionary.

. In 1794 he published Songs of Innocence and Experience in a combined volume. This work is only a part of all his works, but it represents the major his themes and style.

. Dual Vision of Life:

Innocence: he see the condition of Man in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. The world of innocence is represented by the symbols of Lamb and Child.

Experience: he see the world of normal adult life.

They are "the two contrary states of Human Soul".

. Dual Vision of God:

Innocence - "The Lamb": in Songs of Innocence with the Lamb, he represents the God's innocence and his love for this animal.

Experience - "The Tiger": in Songs of Experience he represents the Power and the Energy of God, with the Tiger.

. Imagination: his style is based on imagination. It is a kind to see more deeply the life of things.

. The Child: In Songs of Innocence the child is the symbol of pure innocence; he is the little new-born infant loved and protected by God. In Songs of Experience the child become the boy neglected by parents and by society.

. The Poet and his Role: the poet, for Blake, is a visionary man who uses a tone of a prophet. He see very deeply the life of things and the world that go around him.

. Style: he uses a style very simple. He follow a regular stress pattern and rhyme schemes. He uses very much the personification, metaphor and symbols. His poems are riche very much of images.