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Blake: the lyric poetry
- GenresPoetryNonfiction
80 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 1968
3 people want to read
About the author
John Holloway
132 books1 followerLibrarian Note:
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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July 24, 2024
I’ve had this slim little book for years and never got round to reading it. Not the most readable volume, although the subject interested me very much. Useful and valuable insight into Blake’s writing which made the effort more than worthwhile. The book largely centres around his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The innocence of childhood and the experiences of later life.
Holloway points to how many of Blake’s poems/songs share the structure of hymns and thus some common ground with the hymnologists of his day and prior to it – especially Isaac Watts. He points to the differences between them too. Blake clearly knew his Bible and Shakespeare. Songs of Innocence seems to be underwritten by Christ’s command in Mark’s gospel: “Suffer little children to come unto me…”. That said, Blake took issue with a church which took as its primary text, “Thou shalt not”..and differed from the hymnologists who saw children as mere creatures of sin in miniature.
Blake was writing at a time of government repression in the UK, in the wake of revolution in France. He was not alone, initially, in sympathising with the revolution, Wordsworth and Coleridge did, before conforming: exercising one's right to freedom of speech was more likely to lead to charges of sedition and even treason, risking imprisonment, transportation and the gibbet. In his day, Blake was virtually unknown and even when and where he was, it seems he was often ignored as an odd ball. Now of course he is seen in very different colours: a prophet ahead of his time. He would soon become disillusioned with the course of the revolution in France and the actions of the revolutionaries. At home, his writing became even more challenging of accepted creeds. His well known “The Divine Image” (from Songs of Innocence) he came to regard as complacent. Therein he speaks of the need for pity. But he would come to see the “virtue” of pity as a societal cop out. Remove poverty and pity becomes redundant!
Holloway points to how many of Blake’s poems/songs share the structure of hymns and thus some common ground with the hymnologists of his day and prior to it – especially Isaac Watts. He points to the differences between them too. Blake clearly knew his Bible and Shakespeare. Songs of Innocence seems to be underwritten by Christ’s command in Mark’s gospel: “Suffer little children to come unto me…”. That said, Blake took issue with a church which took as its primary text, “Thou shalt not”..and differed from the hymnologists who saw children as mere creatures of sin in miniature.
Blake was writing at a time of government repression in the UK, in the wake of revolution in France. He was not alone, initially, in sympathising with the revolution, Wordsworth and Coleridge did, before conforming: exercising one's right to freedom of speech was more likely to lead to charges of sedition and even treason, risking imprisonment, transportation and the gibbet. In his day, Blake was virtually unknown and even when and where he was, it seems he was often ignored as an odd ball. Now of course he is seen in very different colours: a prophet ahead of his time. He would soon become disillusioned with the course of the revolution in France and the actions of the revolutionaries. At home, his writing became even more challenging of accepted creeds. His well known “The Divine Image” (from Songs of Innocence) he came to regard as complacent. Therein he speaks of the need for pity. But he would come to see the “virtue” of pity as a societal cop out. Remove poverty and pity becomes redundant!
Displaying 1 of 1 review