William blake

William Blake

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When did Pre-romanticism appear? in the latter half of the 18th century

• What are the main features of Pre-romanticism? • Romantic Revival;

• Strong protest against the bondage of Classicism • Claims of passion and emotion

• Renewed interests in medieval literature

Pre-romanticism

• Who are the representatives? William Blake and Robert Burns • What‟s the significance?

marked the decline of classicism

paved the way for the coming of romanticism in England

Questions for discussion

• What parts of the tiger have been described in the poem? • Is it a realistic description of the tiger?

• What does the tiger stand for or symbolize? • What does the poem glorify?

• In which year was the poem written? Any connection with the historical background?

• How to interpret the two lines “when the stars threw down their spears/ and water‟d heaven with their tears”?

Question 1

• What parts of the tiger have been described in the poem? eyes: burning bright in darkness/ fiery figure: in fearful symmetry

heart: hard to twist its sinews; sturdy hand and feet: dreadful

brain: framed in furnace; strong

Question 2

• Is it a realistic description of the tiger? It is more symbolic than literal.

Question 3

• What does the tiger stand for or symbolize? obscure in symbolic meaning

1. a powerful, overwhelming force 2. terror, violence and mercilessness

3. a destructive being (prey on lambs etc.)

4. mystery

Combined with the poem “The Lamb”, the tiger symbolizes the infinity of God, both merciful and merciless.

Question 4

• What does the poem glorify?

the tiger? the maker of the tiger? the magic of the creation?

Question 5

• In which year was the poem written? Any connection with the historical background? 1789-1794

French Revolution

French Revolution

• political and social upheaval

• Accompanied by violent turmoil (trial of the king, bloodshed and warfare) • From 1792-1797, France launched wars with Austria and Prussia

Blake’s political views

• Blake never tried to fit into the world, he was a rebel innocently and completely all his life.

• He was politically of the permanent left & mixed a good deal with the radicals like Thomas Paine and William Godwin.

• Blake strongly criticized the capitalists' cruel exploitation, saying that the \"dark satanic mills left men unemployed, killed children and forced prostitution.\" • He cherished great expectations and enthusiasm for the French Revolution, and regarded it as a necessary stage leading to the millennium predicted by the biblical prophets.

Question 6

• How to interpret the two lines “when the stars threw down their spears/ and water‟d heaven with their tears”? heavy touch of religion

Allusion:

a. to Satan’s revolt against God’s tyranny and its tragic downfall;

b. to French people’s revolt against

monarchical autocracy and the ensuing bloodshed

• Summarize the musical beauty of the poem

trochaic (stressed syllable with unstressed syllable) to imitate the sound in a forge;

alliteration (burning bright); assonance (tiger and night); sounds rhythmical; regular end rhyme repetition

A Sick Rose

• Should there be any symbolic meanings for the night and the storm? If so, what meanings would you suggest?

Rose---beauty, innocence, love, happiness

Worm---wick, experience, hatred, “invisible”

Bed---the flower bed----bed of crimson joy---bed of aspiration, desire

the combination (dark secret love) has ultimately destroyed the life of rose---turns into a sick rose

• How do you comment Blake’s symbolism and mysticism? obscurity and ambiguity for rich literary associations

Blake’s literary achievements

• A symbolist, or a mystic; many poems are obscure and can be interpreted only symbolically

• His lyric poetry displays the characteristics of the romantic spirit. (visual images rather than abstract ideas)

• Natural sentiment and individual originality makes Blake a forerunner of the Romantic poetry of the 19th century.

Quotes

• The classical school knew enough the artifice, but little art.

Blake’s life and career

• got no education in school

• At 10, in Henry Par‟s drawing school and exposed to Greek and Roman sculpture;

• at 14, he worked as an engraver and learned how to make copperplates; • an artist with a style of his own: combined visual art with literature; • never prosperous in his lifetime

Blake Links

• The William Blake Archive • The William Blake Page • William Blake: A Helpfile • The Blake Digital Text Project • William Blake’s Illustrations for The Book of Job

Main works

• Poetic collections:

songs of innocence (1789) songs of experience (1794)

• Prose

The marriage of heaven and hell (1790) The French Revolution (1791)

Songs of Innocence

• Using a language which even little babies can learn by heart

• Presenting a happy and innocent world without evils and sufferings • Everything seems to be in pious harmony.

• However, in “The little black boy” and “The chimney sweeper”, we find racial discrimination and sufferings of the poor.

Songs of Experience

• A much mature work

• Show the sufferings of the miserable

• It marks the poet‟s progress in his outlook on life. To him, experience had brought a fuller sense of the power of evil, and of the great misery and pain of the people‟s life.

• The symbol changes from the lamb to the tiger.

Songs of experience

Quotes

To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. 一粒沙中见世界 一朵花中见天堂 将无限握在手中 瞬间中现永恒

Quotes

• “The true Man is the source, he being Poetic Genius”

• “He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only.”

Supplementary poem The Chimney Sweeper

A little black thing among the snow Crying „weep, weep” in notes of woe!

“Where are thy father & mother? say?”

“They are both gone up to the church to pray.”

“Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil‟d among the winter‟s snow; They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

“And because I am happy, & dance & sing, They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, Who make up a heaven of our misery”.

Glossary

• woe: great sadness

• heath: an area of open land covered with rough grass and with very few trees or bushes

• Who make up a heaven of our misery: who together build a Heaven out of our misery

“who” --- God and his Priest and King

Questions

1. What is the “little black thing” in the poem?

2. When the young child speaks of his “father and mother”, whom does he refer to?

3. What is the theme of the poem? How does the poet convey his view?

Summary

The political and religious leaders, represented by God, Priest and King, are hypocritically pious. They maintain a sumptuous life, but ignore the

poverty-stricken groups. Through the child‟s simple statement, the poet intends to attack them for their indifference and ruthlessness.

Assignment for next lecture

• Read the poem “A red, red rose” by Robert Burns and try to answer the

following two questions on the poem:

• How dose the narrator in the love song express his love? • Why is this poem so touching to the readers?

Why Robert Burns is labeled as a representative of Pre-romanticism? What are the main literary contribution of Burns in British literature?