William Blake Research

William Blake was involved in all prominent arts during the 17th to the 18th century. He was involved with painting, printmaking and being a poet. During his life he was largely unnoticed but today Blake is seen as an important role in the romantic age. Growing up during the turn to the industrial revolution, Blake hated how London was changing and becoming a place of work as opposed to a place of freewill and creativity.

During this movement he played a large role in both art and poetry. William Blake’s role in the Romantic era has even led some people to claim him as one of the best artists.

‘William Blake is far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced. I feel both elated and embarrassed to say that, because in recent years the critical reputation of the poet, printmaker and radical prophet of the French revolutionary era has been slipping, to say the least. Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' and 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' are never likely to be shifted from their place near the heart of English literature. But Blake thought of himself as a visual artist; he illuminated his self-published writings, illustrated Dante and Chaucer, and painted singular oils such as The Ghost of a Flea.’ (2005:1 Jones)

Jones stats that Blake not only produced literature that is one of the fundamental pieces of English history, but he also excelled at visual arts and saw himself as one much more than he did an author or poet. Blake never ventured outside of more than a day’s walk away from London, but he produced a diverse range of art that embraces ‘the body of God’ or ‘human existence itself’. Blake was fundamental in the development of Romanticism.

Blake was believed to be a spiritual man. Author Jessica Gunderson looked in Romanticism and details how William Blake was influenced in his images.

‘William Blake’s mystical paintings, such as 'The resurrection: The Angels Rolling away the Stone from the Sepulchre', were inspired by his intense spiritual beliefs, including his perceived ability to see visions of God and other heavenly beings.’ (2008:16 Gunderson)


Blake’s belief that he could see and interact with heavenly beings clearly had an influence on his art. ‘The Resurrection’ clearly features heavenly bodies descending down on mortals below. It also shows the mortals worshipping God and loving him.

Could it be that William Blake is so well regarded for the Romantic age because of his array of skills? Blake is acknowledged as a man that not only tried his hands at other fields of expertise, but perfected them.

‘Romanticism, the power to return us to the nineteenth-century dreams not of arts but of Art as the single revelation that single-minded, multitalented creative personalities seek in complementary modes, some with a talent for words, others for music or pictures, all epitomized by an impossibly rare double or triple romantic genius such as William Blake, poet, painter, engraver, and, it was said, a natural musician.’ (1993:237 Curran)

The reason for William Blake’s success regarding the Romantic age is that he was talented in so many areas. With the coming of the Romantic age, it allowed Blake to unshackle himself and explore his imagination in regards to the areas in his life that he feels are most important.

William Blake is mainly considered as a poet and artist, because these are the fields that Blake was most popular in. But he did venture into other areas that were prominent in the Romantic age making William Blake a big part of the change.

William Blake also had a series of illustrations of Revelation 12 from the Book of Revelation. These include ‘The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with Sun’

Blake was obsessed with the image of ‘the creator’, painting the image of God himself in his work called ‘Ancient of Days’. It shows the creation of the world.

One piece of literature know throughout the world is Dante Alighieri’s ‘The Divine Comedy’. Blake was commissioned to create an ensemble of images to go along with the works. Blake never finished his works making them the last of his career.

‘Palmer was only nineteen and the experience was enormously important to him. ‘Do you work with fear and trembling?’ Blake asked him. When he died, 12 August 1827, Blake was working on a series of designs illustrating Dante.’ (2000; 55 Wu)

‘The Divine Comedy’ is seen as one of the greatest pieces of literature, so to be asked to illustrate the work must have been a grand occasion for Blake. It is sad indeed that he died, unable to complete his work.

Whilst other artists in the Romantic age explored their own imagination, Blake explored that of others and his own beliefs. All fields that Blake applied himself to he excelled at but most always had a spiritual edge allowing us to see into William Blake’s life and not only see him as an artist or poet, but as a person.


Bibliography:

Why William Blake is the greatest artist Britain has ever produced, Jonathan Jones,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2005/apr/25/williamblake (Accessed on 25 April 2005)

Jessica Gunderson (2008) Romanticism: Movements in Art; Mankato; The Creative Company

Stuart Curran (1993) The Cambridge companion to British Romanticism; Cambridge; Cambridge University Press

Duncan Wu (2000) Romanticism: An anthology with CD ROM; Hoboken; Wiley-Blackwell

Robert F Cleckner/ Gerald E. Enscoe (1975) Romanticism: Points of View: Issue 40 of Wayne books; Michigan; Wayne State University Press

Michael O’Neill/ Mark Sandy (2006) Romanticism: Romanticism, belief, and philosophy: volume 4 of romanticism; Oxford; Taylor and Francis


Now I am going to go back to bed so I can try and get rid of this studid Head Cold by tommorow. Good Night