Concetti Chiave
- William Blake was a London-born poet, artist, and engraver, notable for his lasting poverty and early artistic training.
- He was influenced by renowned artists like Raffaello and Michelangelo, and created illustrations for works like the Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost.
- Blake supported the French Revolution's ideals but later rejected them due to disillusionment with the Revolution's outcomes, notably the Reign of Terror.
- His poetry collections "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience" reflect contrasting life views, inspired by the French Revolution's optimistic start and its grim aftermath.
- The first collection uses pastoral themes with symbols like the child and the lamb, representing innocence and Jesus Christ, while the second prompts reflection without providing answers.
Indice
William Blake's life and education
William Blake was born in London in 1757 in a poor family and he remained poor all his life.He was first of all an English poet, but also an artist and an engraver.
When he was 10 years old, his father sent him to a drawing school and so as we know he made a lot of drawings for the Divina Commedia written by Dante Alighieri and for Milton’s Paradise Lost.
He was influenced by Raffaello and by Michelangelo.
He supported the French Revolution and in particular its ideals though he rejected many of these political beliefs because he was disappointed for the end of the French Revolution in particular for the period of Terror.
William Blake's most famous literary masterpieces
Blake experiences contributed to the development of his poetry.The most remarkable were reunited in literary collections called “Song of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience”.
The 1st collection was written with the beginning of the French revolution and so we can see an optimistic view of the life while the 2nd collection was written after the revolution, when the period of Terror raged in Europe and so we can see a pessimistic view of the life.
The first collection is in the pastoral mode, the narrator is a shepherd who receives inspiration from a child in a cloud to tell his songs celebrating the divine in all creations. The child and the lamb are symbols of Innocence and so of the Jesus Christ.
The second collection is necessary that is read with the “Songs of Innocence” because the poet makes questions on the theme of the previous collection but there aren’t the answers.
The power of the intimacy in William Blake
William Blake usually stated that imagination can not be merely considered a state of mind because it is part of the human existence, if not it is the human existence in the purest form.Linked to that, it can be said that the higher and more obscure components of life, such as inspiration and religion, will not be found, at list not in the most powerful essence, outside themselves but inside them, in a state where the human being can be in touch with the most intimate part of the soul.
For this reason, Art and Literature mirror the Eternal and can not be corrupted by frivolous and hedonistic desires or the sinful senses that imprison the human in a carnal cage.
Everything is made by an infinite substance and the human should purify himself from all the perception in order to discover and understand this concept.
That’s also why he was so against Rationalism and the dominion of the reason that did not free the humanity, as promised, instead, it limited the mind and generated depression, misery and oppression.
William Blake’s style
The peculiarity of Blake’s literary and artistic style is his skill in reproducing the vigour of the energy of the sentiment and the intensity of the colours.He was coherent with his philosophy and he also tried to materialize it thorough the use of the watercolour while he rejected the oil paint because he thought he was a temptation of the formalism and a carnal pleasure.
In this way everything was painted in a more indefinite and airy way so that it could have been created the impression that all the world was inside a small detail of his work.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali sono stati gli influssi principali nella vita e nell'educazione di William Blake?
- Quali sono le opere letterarie più famose di William Blake?
- Come William Blake percepiva l'immaginazione e la sua importanza?
- In che modo William Blake esprimeva la sua filosofia attraverso l'arte?
- Qual è la caratteristica distintiva dello stile artistico e letterario di William Blake?
William Blake è stato influenzato da Raffaello e Michelangelo e ha sostenuto la Rivoluzione Francese, sebbene abbia poi rigettato molte delle sue credenze politiche a causa della delusione per il periodo del Terrore.
Le opere più famose di William Blake sono le raccolte "Songs of Innocence" e "Songs of Experience", che riflettono rispettivamente una visione ottimistica e pessimistica della vita.
Blake considerava l'immaginazione non solo uno stato mentale, ma parte integrante dell'esistenza umana, essenziale per connettersi con la parte più intima dell'anima.
Blake esprimeva la sua filosofia attraverso l'uso dell'acquerello, rifiutando la pittura a olio per evitare il formalismo e il piacere carnale, creando opere indefinite e ariose.
La peculiarità dello stile di Blake è la capacità di riprodurre l'energia del sentimento e l'intensità dei colori, coerente con la sua filosofia di purificazione dalle percezioni per comprendere l'infinito.
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