Gallery of Saints & Sinners from our Daily Bleed... |
And Blake awoke. Expanding from the Vale
Of Felpham, his humanity became
A Globe of Self-annihilating flame,
A Bubble searing through the
Mundane Shell . . .--- Richard Record, "Glad Day"
SAINTWILLIAM BLAKE
Major romanticpoet, radical, mystic, printer, engraver, subversive. Entertained angelsin the garden. Friend of the anarchist writer/philosopher William Godwin& Thomas Paine . . . Born in London, England, November 28, 1757; diedAugust 12, 1827. . . . Peerless genius of the visionary imagination, Blake was relatively little understood or appreciated duringhis lifetime, but ever since his work was brought to the attention of the public by W. B. Yeats & E. J. Ellis in 1893, it has been reaching an ever-growing worldwide audience. Blake was largely self-taught. He read widely & made insightful notes on his reading, many of which have survived for our enjoyment.In his thought he was influenced by the English Bible, by the extraordinary writings of Jacob Boehme, by the working-class dissenting sects that surrounded him in London, especially the Church of the New Jerusalem, and its founder, Emanuel Swedenborg -- see Daily Bleed for January 29. Blake said of Swedenborg,
And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting
at the tomb; his writings are the linen clothes folded
up. Now is the dominion of Edom, & the return of
Adam into Paradise…Blake was also powerfully influenced by John Milton -- see Daily Bleed for March 15, April 27, August 13 & 27, September 29, November 8, & December 12. He gave Milton's name to one of his major works. Blake's illustrations to Dante & other writers, as well as his illustrations to the Bible, constitute commentaries on the texts as well as beautiful additions to the books.
Amongthose who befriended Blake during his lifetime were William Godwin (see Daily Bleed for March 3) & William Hayley (see Daily Bleed for October 29. )
Those who have been inspired by Blake since his death include Dante Gabriel Rossetti, other poets & mystics like Yeats -- see Daily Bleed, June 13 -- & Allen Ginsberg -- see Daily Bleed, August 28 -- as well as lots of less well-known readers in every part of the world, several of whom have created web sites to reflect their commitment to Blake.
Composers & performers have been attracted to Blake's Songs ofInnocence & Songs of Experience. Among them are Ginsberg (MGM Records,FTS-3083, June-July, 1969) & Holy Soul Jelly Roll: Poems & Songs,1949-1993 (rhino WordBeat 4 -CD Set R2 71693{isbn: 1056826-424-0}), copyright1994; Benjamin Britten, Songs & Proverbs of William Blake, London RecordsOS 26099 (Decca Record Co., 1969; Greg Brown, Songs of Innocence &Experience, Published by Brown-Feldman Publishing/ASCAP, Red House Records,Inc.; Finn Coren, Oslo, 1993-96; Gregory Forbes, Toronto, 1980, RealAudioSeptember 1998; Edward Kinsimo, William Blake's An Island in the Moon,January, 1976; Mike Westbrook, Bright as Fire, Settings of William Blake,Original Records Ltd, 2 Bloomsbury Place, London WC1; & Ralph VaughanWilliam, Ten Blake Songs (Desto Records DC-6482.
There is a hugebibliography related to Blake. A good place to begin reading abouthim is Peter Ackroyd's Blake: A Biography (Knopf, 1996).
One of the most remarkable resources available on the World Wide Web is The Blake Archive, which has plans -- & funding -- to become more & more comprehensive through 2003 & on into the next century. The site is worth 30thirty minutes for a first visit at http://www.blakearchive.org/
1772 -- On August 4 William Blake was apprenticed to the engraver James Basireof Great Queen Street, Lincolns Inn Fields. Basire was regarded as old-fashioned, but Blake learned from him & always took great pride in the craft & its tools, depicting one in a prominent place in an engraving for his graphic masterpiece, the series of engravings for the Book of Job. 1779 -- William Blake begins his studies at the Royal Academy.
June 6, 1780 -- Rebellious hordes storm & set fire to Newgate Prison in London, while William Blake, inspired by the Declaration of Independence, watches sympathetically.
August 18, 1782 -- William Blake, 24, marries Catherine Sophia Boucher, an illiterate whom he will teach to share his love of literature.
1784-1785 -- William Blake writes a burleque to which Yeats & Ellis gave thetitle 'An Island in the Moon,' from which he excerpted four lines & three whole poems that became part of Songs of Innocence. In 1976, Edward Kinsimo set to music the three songs, sung by three of the characters in the burlesque -- Quid, Obtuse Angle, & Mrs Nannicantipot.; See http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/Frostinfo.html
[10b. Following 'An Island in the Moon' -- a separate item:]1787 -- William Blakeattends the deathbed of his younger brother Robert, who is buried in BunhillFields on February 11. At the moment of death, Blake saw his brother'sspirit ascend heavenward 'clapping its hands for joy.' Blake reflectedthis moment in many images, & attributed his innovations in printingto the inspiration of his dead brother.
1789 -- William Blake printsthe first copies of Songs of Innocence, a group of lyrics that has beenendlessly interpreted by literary critics and ordinary readers, someof whom realize, & some of whom do not, that the words are only oneelement in a whole that most empahtically includes the design of the page,the variations in color added by William & Catherine to the variouscopies, & the ever-changing order of the poems, never the same exceptfor one series printed in 1818.
1790 -- In The Marriage of Heaven& Hell, Blake asserts, 'I have also: The Bible of Hell: which the worldshall have whether they will or no." Dante Gabriel Rossetti foundamong Blake's papers, which he was one of the first to examine, a sheetof paper that had a drawing on one side, & on the other a draft title:'The Bible of Hell, in Nocturnal Visions collected. Vol I Lambeth. Thisis the origin of what have become known as the Lambeth prophecies, an alternativetestament in three volumes.
1792 -- In a notebook inherited fromhis brother Robert, William Blake reaches the last page, then turns itupside down, & working from the back, writes out drafts of fifty-eightpoems, which become Songs of Experience, relating to their counterpartsin Songs of Experience in fascinating & various ways. On one page ofthe notebook the first draft of 'London' is above the first draft of 'TheTyger,' two of Blake's most-admired poems born together on the same pieceof paper.
1793 -- Blake publishes America, A Prophecy, which is followedin 1794 by Europe, A Prophecy.
1794 -- Blake issues the first ofthe Lambeth prophecies, The Book of Urizen, which is on one level a parodyof Genesis.
1795 -- Blake issues just two copies (or we know of onlytwo copies that he issued) of the second & third parts of theLambeth trilogy, The Book of Ahania & The Book of Los. This year healso issues the only copy we know of his miniature philosophical tractAll Religions Are One.
1799 -- William Blake writes to John Trusler:"You say that I want somebody to elucidate my ideas, but you ought to knowthat what is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men."
[12a. Precedingthe first quotation from a letter to Hayley:]1800 - 1803 -- William Blake,under the patronage of kindred spirit William Hayley, moves from Londonto a beautiful little cottage in Felpham, Sussex, where he probably composedthe poem Milton, including the four stanzas of the famous lyric now knownas "Jerusalem,"
& did those feet in ancient time
Walk uponEngland's mountains green?
& was the holy Lamb of God
OnEngland's pleasant pastures seen?& did the Countenance Divine
Shineforth upon our clouded hills?
& was Jerusalem builded here
Amongthese dark Satanic Mills?Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bringme my Arrows of desire;
Bring me my Spear; O clouds unfold!
Bringme my Chariot of fire!I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Norshall my Sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
InEngland's green & pleasant Land.Duringthese years, he begins work on an epic poem, unpublished during his lifetime,called at various times 'VALA,' 'The Four Zoas,' & The Torments ofLove & Jealousy . . . Of Albion.'
August 12, 1803 -- Blakeloses his temper with a soldier he thinks is trespassing, & is accusedof sedition, for which he faces trial in Chichester. During his legaltroubles, he writes to Thomas Butts, enclosing the following four linesof complaint:
O why was I born with a different face?
Whywas I not born like the rest of my race?
When I look each one starts!When I speak, I offend;
Then I'm silent & passive & loseevery Friend.1804 -- William Blake writes tobiographer/poet William Hayley:
"Money flies from me, Profit never venturesupon my threshold."
1804 -- William Blake writesto William Hayley: "Dear Sir,excuse my enthusiasm or rather madness, forI am reallydrunk with intellectual vision whenever I take a pencil orengraverinto my hand . . ."
1807 -- William Blake makes trial proofs of someof the pages of Jerusalem, but issues none to the public.
1811 -- William Blake issues the first three surviving copies of Milton, dated "1804" on the title page, printed on paper with an 1808 watermark.
1820-- William Blake issues the first three surviving copies of his last majorhand-printed & hand-colored book, Jerusalem.
1823 -- Agreementwith John Linnell, "in the spring," William Blake agrees to engrave theInventions to the Book of Job. He is paid 5 pounds per plate.
January,1826 -- William Blake visits young William Upcott, leaving an entry inhis autograph album which begins "William Blake one who is very much delightedwith being in good Company Born 28 Novr 1757 in London & has died severaltimes since . . ."
1827 -- English romantic poet William Blake diesat 70 in the small room off the Strand where he has spent the last fewyears.
"I mock thee not, though I by thee am mockéd.
Thoucall'st me madman, but I call thee blockhead"
--- William Blake
http://cla.calpoly.edu/%7Esmarx/Blake/blakeweb.html1968-- Chicago FBI agents report GINSBERG chanted unintelligiblepoems in GrantPark . . . (the "unintelligible poems" were William Blake's "The Grey Monk.")
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisibleworm,
That flies in the night
In the howling stormHasfound out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Doesthy life destroy.--- William Blake
List of Additional Blake Images Available on the Web,Which Could Be Added to this page:
[5a, (i-v) Album covers for oneor more of the CDs mentioned:] Benjamin Britten http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/BBinfo.html
GregBrown http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/GBinfo.html
Finn Corenhttp://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/FCinfo.html
Gregory Forbeshttp://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/GFinfo.html
Allen Ginsberg/WilliamBlake http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/AGrecinfo.html
AllenGinsberg, Holy Soul Jelly Roll http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/AGcdinfo.html
MikeWestbrook http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/MWinfo.html
VaughanWilliams http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/RVWinfo.html
[6a(i) A color image from the Job cycle:]Satan Inflicting Boils Upon Job http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake3.html
[10c(i) A black-and-white image from Songs of Innocence:]Infant Joyhttp://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/25/
[10d (i) A color imagefrom The Book of Urizen:]The Web of Religion http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake3.html
[10e (I) A black-and-white image from Songs of Experience:]Londonhttp://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/SONGS/
[11a (i)] A colorimage from All Religions Are One:]Title page http://www.unomaha.edu/~wwwengl.blakeweb/AR/title.jpg
[12a(i) A color image from Milton:]Blake's cottage at Felpham http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake3.html
[14a(i) First of two images from Jerusalem:]Albion Worshipping Christ, Plate76 http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake3.html
[14c (i) Second of twoimages from Jerusalem:]The Union of the Soul with God http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake3.html
[16a(i) Blake's autograph, from Upcott's album:Black-and-white authograph,framed in brown & green http://urizen1.home.mindspring.com/blake2.html
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