William Blake, born 28 November 1757 - 12 August 1827, was an English poet. Though highly regarded now, during his lifetime he was mostly unrecognised. His work is fresh, original and innocent - reflected in his two complete volumes of "Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience". Within these volumes detail his unforgettable poems, which delve profoundly into the in sighting world of human nature. Though on the outside of their skin they appear simplistic and nursery - they are an up most intriguing piece social probing.
Blake himself led a life in London although he was born in Soho, as the son of a hosier. Here he would write by the Thames and recite his tales. Blake would often speak of his "visionary imaginations", as throughout his life he would see magnificent splendour; one such being a claim to have seen God outside his window as a child, and angels around the treetops. Although such claims would be shot down, and he himself labelled and regarded as a mad man, these spurts of vividly illusions would clearly influence and inspire his poetry and art, such as engraved illustrations of mythological beings and later explorations of faith within his works.
Unfortunately at the time, a career in art was highly expensive, costly and unable to sustain a man such as Blake. Throughout his life he lived through poverty, struggling with what little he could earn through engraving. He married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher, whom he taught to read and write. Catherine would help Blake to print his poetry, and they ventured into hosting their own print shop too, although this later failed. William even tried to teach his younger brother, Robert his skills in artistry, but he fell ill and passed during the winter of 1787, and Blake believed to have seen his soul clapping with joy, leave his body to ascend.
Despite such a tough living style, William continued with his work, nonconforming to others and thinking as he would, believing imagination was a privilege over the conformed views of others. He believed that with imagination over reason, such as his poetry and images, these ideal forms should be constructed not from what we perceive around us by from our inner visions. As to quote from one of his poems:
Blake believed to think freely and be able to express ones self. Art itself during such a time as he was in, was only used for practical purposes - such as highly realistic depictions of portraiture or coats of arms depictions. Art had no abstract purpose. But for Blake, he believed that people should not be conformed or enslaved by this social tyranny, and be able to break free from such oppressive rules and express the inner "you". His passion for poetry drove Blake to even self teach Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Italian to read poems in their original native language. With this as inspiration alongside his profound spiritual insights and visions, Blake would move onto create his most mature works which would explore a high kind of innocence, the human spirit over solid reason and logicality.
Blake aimed for his work, his poetry, to be read by the common people and was no prepared to sacrifice his vision, his essence of his work for the sake of popularity; that was against what he stood for. Though some perceived some of his water colour pieces as "hideous", and he the artist as "insane", some praised his pieces for their bold step. His poetry on the other hand was not very well known to the general people. A fair few regarded his poetry, and called him a "Man of genuis", but this praise would not earn him much favor as he still lived out the remainder of his life in poverty. Regardless during these final years, Blake was supported by a younger group of artists who called themselves "The Ancients". One of these artists managed to help Blake financially and raise interest in his work, allowing him to illustrate commissions until his death in 1827.
William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" are sets of illustrated poems which spiral around the cotrary states of the human soul. "Innocence" and "Experience" define these two states of consciousness which takes the concepts of John Milton's of "Paradise" and "Fall" What we can take from this is that "Innocence" is a protected state of childhood, safe from original sin. This ancestral or original sin refers to the "fall of man" sin. Such sin can be anything form mere deception, guilt, and is usually associated with the Adam and Eve tale. The "Experience" later falls into events that are experienced, corrupting "innocence", such as political corruption, social tyranny and the oppression of the ruling classes.
"A Dream" is a poem with the Songs of Innocence volume, published in 1789. The poem emphasizes aspects of innocence, and sports a coherent theme of harmony and rhythm. The characters within the poem are helpful and friendly, although vaguely detailed - thus adding to the innocence depiction of the setting. Our main character, the "Emmet", is an ant. "Emmet" itself is the archaic word for "Ant." Alongside the Emmet we have the Narrator, whom we can assume is Blake, the glow-worm and the beetle. The Poem begins with narrator meeting the lost ant and listening to her laments of separation from her children back home. Next, the glow-worm listens in and is said to "set to light the ground" which we can assume is to help and guide the lost Emmet home, instructing her to follow the beetle. Whilst the nature of the poem is innocence, naive and light - the Emmet's fear of what surrounds it could also tie in with "experience" as from her damaged, tired and worn appearance it must have had several hardships, including separation as mentioned in the dream from its family.
This act of personification and sympathy with an insect, is a broadened sense of sympathy and innocence, as generally children can sympathising with anything - even inanimate objects such as stuffed animals. We can even draw fro "A Dream" several underlying themes such as a sense of imperfection with all the characters present, as everyone needs help. The Emmet needs to e comforted by the narrator, needs to be rescued by the glow-worm and guided back home by the beetle. Not only that but "A Dream" appears to challenge the stereotypical structure of the middle class family. Instead of an absent father returning home to his waiting children and wife, it is the maternal mother instead trying to find her way home.
The Poem smells of a strong, organic presence of the natural world. Guidance and protection lean in within this poem to this lost innocence, within its abstract presentation. We can interpretate the opening line of Blake's bed, his angels, as the guardians of innocence or even of his. This may also refer to sleeping and the act of dreaming as the highest point of innocence, where imagination is at its biggest and best. A waking Blake to a bed of grass and a lost ant is a loose and innocent subject of the dream too. Another possible interpretation i have of the ant, is its struggle to return to its lost innocence with its hardships of experience. That this experience is fighting over "many a tangled spray". Rather than Blake presenting this experience as adult wisdom, he instead presents it as a burdened struggle, especially for the adult ant to return to what it has now lost. The author empathises with the lost ant with his drop of tear, universal emotions through a universal nature - that all is one - and all is close. Perhaps this is why the ant, is the subject of empathy of the Poem, as even a creature as small and perhaps, perceived as insignificant is just as important and on par with the purpose of man as we are all a part of a wheel of nature we can not deny. As the night darkens and the ant hears her children, the glow-worm becomes a now symbol of guidance, perhaps, a metaphor of God. The glow-worm paves a lit ground to cast away the dark and light the way to the beetle and his hum, to guide the "little wanderer" home.
Blake's vision of nature is also conveyed through the poem within its visual imagery. As an engraver and artist, Blake was able to decorate his words as if flower heads growing from a thicket. Vines weave through borders, perhaps illustrating the complex and woven nature of man. Perhaps the nature decorating the poetry is its natural guardian, guarding the innocence of his work. Perhaps it was up to God to reunite the maternal relationship of mother ant and mother child. The mother struggles to find her way home - and the father ant sits at home and sighs - leaving God to guide the lost soul home when needed most.
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