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2nd February 2019, 07:49 AM | #1 |
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William Blake
Toss up whether this goes here or in "History, Literature and the Arts"... I think Blake was primarily a mystic.
“Create a System or be enslav’d by another Mans.” William Blake was a poet and artist, famed for his mystical and visionary work. Yet he was a fierce individualist, a romantic and critic of the church’s doctrine: “And Caiphas was in his own Mind A benefactor of Mankind Both read the Bible day & night But thou readst black where I read white” He was born in 1757 to a family of modest means. His education was of the kind usual for poorer children at the time, coming from his mother. He later celebrated this with the lines: “Thank God, I never was sent to School To be Flogg’d into following the Stile of a Fool.” He had visions throughout his life, as a child seeing the head of God, Ezekiel and “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars”. He considered having such visions to be a natural human faculty, “all men partake of it—but it is lost by not being cultivated”, and according to a contemporary spoke of his visions with no particular emphasis, as if they were almost a trivial matter. One of Blake’s own essays (“The Last Judgement”) states: “I assert for My Self that I do not behold the outward Creation… ‘What’ it will be Questiond ‘When the Sun rises, do you not See a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea?’ O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying ‘Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty!” Many of his poems are now famous, “Songs Of Innocence”, written very simply in language a child could read, and “Songs Of Experience” being probably the best known collections. “The Marriage Of Heaven and Hell” which consists of a dialogue between Blake and an (arrogant) Angel, along with a collection of the “Proverbs Of Hell” is also somewhat well known. In this (and other works) he opposed morals in the sense of repressive commandments: “Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn, no longer in deadly black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy. Nor his accepted brethren, whom, tyrant, he calls free. Lay the bound or build the roof. Nor pale religions letchery call that virginity that wishes but acts not. For everything that lives is Holy.” His art is also well known, his poetic work having mostly been printed with paintings, as Illuminated Manuscripts (in very small numbers using an etching technique he apparently received from his dead brother in a vision.) https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l...go1o1_1280.jpg In his lifetime he had little success, being discovered posthumously. Eventually W.B. Yeats would publish his work and T.S. Eliot write an essay about him. He is now considered, alongside Milton, as one of the greatest mystic poets in English literature. “If he had been Antichrist Creeping Jesus
Hed have done any thing to please us Gone sneaking into Synagogues And not usd the Elders & Priests like dogs But Humble as a Lamb or Ass Obeyd himself to Caiaphas God wants not Man to Humble himself This is the trick of the ancient Elf This is the Race that Jesus ran Humble to God Haughty to Man Cursing the Rulers before the People Even to the temples highest Steeple And when he Humbled himself to God Then descended the Cruel Rod” |
2nd February 2019, 08:06 AM | #2 |
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Yep, that's William Blake alright.
What do you want to discuss? |
2nd February 2019, 08:57 AM | #3 |
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Just thought it might be nice for people to hear about him... I quoted him in another thread and people were asking who the quote was from.
But ok, uh, discussion topics, let me see... Do all children have similar visionary faculties which get shut down by school, tv etc? I like this question! What about all this "raven-headed priests curse the sons of joy" business. Is religion (Christianity in particular, if you like) really so repressive? Does it have to be repressive to serve it's purpose, is this due to Christ himself or is it something added to the doctrine by organized religion? Do we really need to "create a system" or are dogmas sufficient? (for example, is it possible to be a complete human being and at the same time believe Catholic or Protestant (or etc etc etc) dogma? Was Christ a social revolutionary? ("This is the Race that Jesus ran, Humble to God Haughty to Man, Cursing the Rulers before the People, Even to the temples highest Steeple") |
2nd February 2019, 09:44 AM | #4 |
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Though aside from those points, to be quite honest I posted this thread just to turn people on to Blake who maybe haven't read him or only read "Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience".
It would be quite interesting to hear people's perspective on him, especially people who identify as Christians... |
2nd February 2019, 12:38 PM | #5 |
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Would be best then to have been put in History, Literature, and the Arts subforum.
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2nd February 2019, 02:15 PM | #6 |
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Or one could refer to a more complete coverage of William Blake by visiting the quite comprehensive Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
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3rd February 2019, 04:31 AM | #7 |
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Originally Posted by William Blake
Originally Posted by William Blake
From "The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell" |
3rd February 2019, 06:58 AM | #8 |
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I recall that in high school we had a segment on the “Tiger, Tiger, burning bright” poem....
(Catholic school) With much discussion of the line... “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” As to the dichotomy of good and evil... And the endless discussion of how an omnibenevolent God allows evil... And of course the use of the “Red Dragon” painting in the movie of the same name.... |
3rd February 2019, 10:14 AM | #9 |
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William Blake's painting The Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun is a major plot point in Thomas Harris' Red Dragon (the first Hannibal Lecter book).
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3rd February 2019, 01:02 PM | #10 |
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The Danish band The William Blakes (Wikipedia). The lead singer, Kristian, is a former (high school) student of mine.
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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4th February 2019, 04:45 AM | #11 |
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5th February 2019, 07:26 AM | #12 |
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Shankara, are you familiar with the books on Blake and his supposed connections with 18th century occultism (especially Swedenborgian erotic spirituality) by Martha Keith Schuchard?
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5th February 2019, 08:37 AM | #13 |
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I'm most familiar with Blake as the author of the poem which became the hymn 'Jerusalem'. The version by Billy Bragg was my late father's favourite hymn and when we sang it at his funeral, I had to do my best to avoid singing it in Bragg's Essex intonation.
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5th February 2019, 09:36 AM | #14 |
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5th February 2019, 12:10 PM | #15 |
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