By: William Blake
Index
1.-INTRODUCTION:
2.-ANALYSIS:
3.-CONCLUSION:
4.-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1.-INTRODUCTION:
William Blake
is one of the major Romantic poets, whose verse and artwork became part of the
wider movement of Romanticism in late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth century
European Culture.
I have tried to represent at least
one of the styles that are the main part of the Romanticism, for that I have
chosen one poem of his collection of “Ideas
of Good and Evil” called “The Land of
Dreams” to make its analysis.
2.-ANALYSIS:
His
writing combines a variety of styles: he is at once an artist, a lyric poet, a mystic
and a visionary, and his work has fascinated, intrigued and sometimes
bewildered readers ever since. [1]
In the
Twentieth century, Blake has been recognised as a highly original and important
poet, artist and writer, and as a member of an enduring tradition of visionary
artists and philosophers, an individualist, a libertarian, and an
uncompromising critic of orthodoxy and authoritarianism... [2]
Blake's
work can be difficult at times, mainly because the reader is offered Blake's
visions in Blake's own terms. 1
Blake's works range from the
deceptively simple and lyrical style of the Songs of Innocence and Experience,
through speculative works such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, to the
highly elaborate visionary and apocalyptic style of
In this
poem we can see some elements such as religiosity, family and even nature.
THE LAND OF DREAMS
|
Awake,
awake, my little boy! |
|
'O,
what land is the |
|
'Among
the lambs, clothed in white, |
|
Dear
child, I also by pleasant streams |
|
'Father,
O father! What do we here |
This poem begins telling us how a
father is awaking his son saying to him that: “Thou wast thy mother's only joy ;”( verse 2) says the father,
because she has died. The child awakes crying because he missed his mum and for
that reason his father asked him: “Why
dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep? / Awake! thy father does thee keep”
(verse 3/4). Here we can understand that they are alone and his father is
encouraging him. They have to look after each other.
In the second paragraph, the child
is asking himself “what land is the
The symbolism of “Mountains” is
referred to as the problems, all the troubles we can find in our way to go and
that we have to dodge or pass through. On the other hand the “Streams” could be
the paths we have to take to arrive to that wished end “The
In that
place, heaven, the child saw his mum, “Among the lilies by
waters fair.”
(Verse 8) but another way to say it can be “among the flowers, the gardens or
the
In the third paragraph when the
child says “Among the lambs, clothed in
white” (verse 9) he is referring to “lambs”
as the angels because lamb symbolises God’s body and “clothed in white” is adding information that is very useful because
everybody knows that the angels are clothed in white. So his mummy is “among
angels and she is clothed like them”.
With the sentence “She walk'd with her Thomas in sweet delight”
(verse 10) the author is telling us that he had a brother called Thomas who is
also dead and that his brother is with his mum in sweet heaven.
Nevertheless, the little kid is
weeping for joy in his dream, “I wept for
joy, like a dove I mourn;”(verse 11). If we have a look of what the
symbolism of a dove is, we can say that it is freedom, happiness or even
pleasure, but in that poem the kid says that he feels like a dove, as a little
innocent animal who complains himself and he asks a question to himself: “When shall I return again?” (verse12)
In the fourth paragraph we can see
how the father comforts his son telling that he has also dreamed with this
Finally
in the last paragraph it is where we can see how the son is asking his father
why if they want to go to that Land they are still there “Father, O father! What do we here / In this land of unbelief and fear?” (Verse
17/18)
But the
father is who explains that “The
Above the light of the morning star.” (verse19/20)
because being in the
Another
important thing is what the image of the author was for the nineteenth century,
because readers of Blake’s work posed a single question: was he sane or mad?
The poet Wordsworth, for example, commented that there “is no doubt that
this poor man was mad, but there is something in his madness which interests me
more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott” and John Ruskin
similarly felt that Blake's work was “diseased and wild”, even if his
mind was “great and wise”..
That can
be observed in this poem referred to the relation between “Good and Evil”3
Blake's early childhood was
dominated by spiritual visions which influenced his personal and working life.
A passionate believer in liberty and freedom for all, especially for women, he
courted controversy with his views on Church and state.
As we can see the main character is
a child and there is a moment where the child says “I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn”(verse 11) and the principal
theme of the poem is a dream where he saw heaven, so that is a religion element.3
After having done this analysis of
the general meaning of the poem I can focus my attention on its structure, its
rhyme, the type of verses, the type of metre and other elements that the author
used.
This poem is formed by five
paragraphs, composed by four verses.
Their rhyme’s structure followed is
A / A / B / B.
Talking about the verb tense I can
say that the author combined the use of the present tense and the simple past
tense. The present tense is used mostly by the father and the past tense is
used by the son.
I also can see that the author uses
a lot the expression “o!”. And it is the same case with the use of some
punctuation elements as the exclamations or the questions.
I also can notice that W. Blake
continues using natural elements when he says “Land”, “mountains”(verse 6),
“streams”(verse 6), “lilies”(verse 8), “waters”(verse 8), “night”(verse 14),
“side”(verse16), and “the light of the morning star”(verse 20).
There also are elements that talk
about the religiosity as the constant use of the words “
And another important aspect is the
presence of the family elements. When he says “child, little boy” (verses1/13),
“father” (verses2/4/7/17/), “mother” (verses7/10) or the reference to them.
Talking about a different aspect, it
is noticeable the presence of stylistic elements as personification as “gentle sleep” (verse 3), “waters fair” (verse 8), “like a dove I mourn” (verse 11), “pleasant streams” (verse13), “calm and warm the waters wide” (verse15)
and “In this land of unbelief and fear?”
(verse18).
The presence of words trying to say the same thing, but using more
words which are not necessary:
And another sense is the rhetorical
elements which can be observed along the poem by the use of a different tone.
Finally, it is one of the most
original and prophetical of the English language and it supposes the rejection
of the main ideas during the illustrative movement in favour to Romanticism.2
3.-CONCLUSION:
His poetry was inspired by mystic
visions.
In part
also, what Blake seeks to express can only be presented in terms of vague
abstractions and allusions, with a cosmic perspective on issues of faith,
religion, philosophy and belief, and this must also mean that the reader has to
work hard.
Blake is
a revolutionary and visionary artist and poet, and his work represented a
decisively new direction in the course of English Poetry and the Visual Arts.
Lots of poets as Swinburne, Yeats
and Emily Dickinson, copied his literary vision and his literary style.2
4.-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
[1] William Blake -- Encyclopaedia
Britannica
www.britannica.com/eb/article-9015583/William-Blake
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/blake.shtml
http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/artist.htm