William Blake's Designs for Edward Young's "Night Thoughts": A Complete EditionVolumes I and II

by Color and B&W Illustration (Illustrator)

Superb reproduction of 1797 publication of four sections of Edward Young's popular poem "Night Thoughts," illustrated with 43 designs by William Blake. Images of angels, spirits, poets, sensuous women, Life, Death, Reason and Truth swirl about Young's text, adding to its meaning and revealing much of Blake's own vision. Plate-by-plate commentaries by Professors Robert Essick and Jenijoy La Belle. Introduction. Bibliography. 43 illustrations.

Genres: Poetry, Art, 18th Century

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1797

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Young's The Complaint, and The Consolation; or, Night Thoughts was written 50 years before this partial text was published. Conceived as a complete illustrated edition featuring plates by Blake, this text of the first four books of the much longer original did not sell well enough for the project to continue. Dover reissued this first installment (at a slightly reduced size) in 1975, with the title modified as above. I confess I read it more out of an interest in Blake's illustrations as they appeared in their original context than out of interest in Young. The poem is aptly titled; within days of finishing it, I could remember almost nothing about it. What a yawn.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after reading a few lines of the poem quoted by Walter Scott in Guy Mannering. I was struck by the beauty and philosophical insight of those lines, and found that to be the case with the poem, although it was a bit flowery at times. I had no idea that Blake did illustrations for the poem and found it amusing that this Dover edition focused almost entirely on those illustrations, with the introduction going so far as to say that that no one really knows or cares about Young and his poem anymore, and that we only read it for Blake’s illustrations. That may be true, but it does injustice to Young’s verse, which remains admirable, if a little out-dated. Blake’s illustrations are stunning, and the Dover edition has excellent notes on each plate, giving the reader greater insight into Blake’s interpretation of Young’s imagery. This is definitely worth a read as an overlooked or "lost" classic from the 18th century that is under-appreciated today and, of course, for Blake’s beautiful illustrations.

[James Dempsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nae my cup of ta. Was brought to the verse of Young, like many others reviewing here, by point of reference. Night thoughts they are. His word streams like the consciousness of the moderns; fluid unthinking and associative. Structure and edit imposed thereafter. I enjoyed this passage.

This is creation’s melancholy vault,
The vale funereal, the sad cypress gloom;
The land of apparitions, empty shades!
All, all on earth, is shadow, all beyond
Is substance; the reverse is Folly’s creed:
How solid all, where change shall be no more!
This is the bud of being, the dim dawn,
The twilight of our day, the vestibule;
Life’s theatre as yet is shut, and death,
Strong death, alone can heave the massy bar,
This gross impediment of clay remove,
And make us embryos of existence free.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice, oversized edition of Blake's work on Young's Night Thoughts.