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William Blake. Blake’s Background. William Blake was an artist, a poet, and a visionary. His work was so incompatible with the taste of his day that his contemporaries could not appreciate his accomplishments. Some believed him to be inspired but irrational; others thought him to be mad.
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Blake’s Background • William Blake was an artist, a poet, and a visionary. • His work was so incompatible with the taste of his day that his contemporaries could not appreciate his accomplishments. • Some believed him to be inspired but irrational; others thought him to be mad.
Blake’s Background • Throughout his life, Blake saw visions--from angels sitting in a tree to messages from his dead brother--which he attributed not to a supernatural source but to the interaction of his imagination with the world and with infinity, or God. • This interaction was the inspiration for both his poetry and his art. • His work reflects highly original interpretations of human experience and of the relationship between the human and the divine.
Blake’s Background • In 1789, using his own method of producing books with hand-colored illustrations, Blake published his first major work, Songs of Innocence, a group of poems modeled on the street ballads and rhymes sung by London's children. • In 1794, he added to these poems a group of contrasting poems called Songs of Experience.
Blake’s Background • Many of the poems in Songs of Innocence have matching poems in Songs of Experience--for example, "The Lamb" is paired with "The Tyger.“ • In the subtitle for this combined edition of the two collections, Blake indicated that his purpose in putting them together was to show "the two contrary states of the human soul." (OPPOSITES)
Quote “When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.”—William Blake
Focus Your Reading • A symbol is a person, place, object, or activity that stands for something beyond itself. • A heart, for example, is a symbol frequently used to stand for love. • As you read these examples of Blake's poetry, think about what the subject of each poem might symbolize.
Directions • Identify the qualities of the lamb and the tiger and tell what you think each animal symbolizes. • Then identify any other objects in the Blake poems that you think might be considered symbols.
Focus Your Reading • A reader might be easily tempted to think of Blake's poems as simple descriptions of people and other living things in the natural world. • It is important, however, to look beyond the obvious--to try to draw conclusions about the possible deeper meaning of Blake's work. • As you read, keep in mind the following questions:
Questions • What details does Blake include about the subject of each poem? • What seems to be Blake's tone, or attitude, in each poem? • Why might Blake have chosen a lamb, a tiger, etc., as the subject of each poem? • What might each subject symbolize?
The Lamb Questions • What details does the poet give about the lamb in the first stanza? • What overall impression might the poet want the reader to have about the lamb? • With what human conditions does the lamb seems to be associated? • What does the poem suggests about God's relationship with these people?
Analysis • What seems to be the tone, or attitude, of the speaker in each of these poems? • What do you think might have been the sources of Blake’s inspiration for these two sets of poems? Consider feelings and thoughts as well as aspects of the external world.
