Author: William Blake
Narrator: Nicol Williamson
Abridged: 1 hr 27 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Published: 10/10/2005
Categories: Fiction, Poetry, European Poetry
William Blake (1757–1827) was an English poet, artist, and printmaker. Although largely unrecognized during his lifetime, he is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. He is held in high regard by critics for his expressiveness and creativity and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. He produced a diverse and symbolically rich body of works that embraced the imagination as “the body of God†or “human existence itself.†Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.
Have just completed "Jerusalem", "Milton", "The book of Thel" the prophetic books. I've been reading and returning to Blake since the mid-1980s and collect prints of the facsimiles when I can get them. This is my first time to get through the books mentioned above. They remind me a lot of Tolkien's p......more
Introduction ‘Here is a selection, a bit of Blake, designed as a bedside companion or to accompany a walk in the countryside, to sit beneath a shady tree and discover a portal into his visionary and musical experience.... Although much of his work seems impenetrable he never ceased in his desire to c......more
Some excellent poems. I enjoyed Auguries of the Innocence, The Tyger, Spring and The Smile. Some evocative lines: There is a Smile of Love And there is a Smile of Deceit And there is a Smile of Smiles In which these two Smiles meet… Or Sound the Flute! Now it’s mute. Birds delight Day and Night. Nightingale......more
Blake is my favorite poet, and thus picking this up for a dollar at the Friends Of The Library sale was seven kinds of sweet. I'm not a huge Poetry person, mostly because I have much use for an art form that (in modern poetry at least) is designed to conceal it's meaning. That's why I like the Roman......more
Many people hold varying opinions on William Blake and his poetry. My opinion is that he used simple language to create romantic visions about the natural world he loved. And he created some pretty unique ideas such as Urizen. I personally have not read all the poems in this volume (although I've rea......more