William Blake: Poems Selected by James Fenton

by William Blake

Regarded by a contemporary as a "brilliant eccentric whose works skirted the outer fringes of English art and literature," William Blake is today recognized as a major poet and artist. This collection of carefully chosen poems reveals the lyricism, mystical vision and consummate craftsmanship that have earned the poet his preeminent place with both critics and the general public. William Blake was an engraver, painter and visionary mystic as well as one of the most revolutionary of the Romantic poets. His writing attracted the astonished admiration of authors as diverse as Wordsworth, Ruskin, W.B.Yeats, and more recently beat poet Allen Ginsberg and the 'flower power' generation. He is one of England's most original artists whose works aim to liberate imaginative energies and subvert 'the mind-forged manacles' of restriction.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2011

About the author

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.

Blake's prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced." Although he only once travelled any further than a day's walk outside London over the course of his life, his creative vision engendered a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced 'imagination' as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical and mystical currents that underlie his work. His work has been characterized as part of the Romantic movement, or even "Pre-Romantic", for its largely having appeared in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the established Church, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.

Despite these known influences, the originality and singularity of Blake's work make it difficult to classify. One 19th century scholar characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary", "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."

Reviews

[mahnoor ~ nursays · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a lot of Blake's best works in this. The collection spans the entirety of the poet's works that show how his thought process developed as he grew older. There were recurring themes of faith, religion needing no institution, children being neglected/abused by elders for their purposes, nature appearing frightful and overwhelming (not pretty and serene as was the case with most Romantics).

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to know about Blake and now I do. This style is definitely not for me, I was mostly snoozing through this volume except for the parts where he debated the angels in hell.

I slightly wonder if he would have been more interesting if he didn’t intentionally stop himself from drawing his religious doubts to their natural conclusion?

his drawings > his poems

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I get why his contemporaries thought he was mad

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved some, hated some, liked quite a few. Hence, three stars.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blake is a singularity. He speaks of lions lying down with lambs and the immolation of a little boy in almost the same breath. The poems from 'Songs of Innocence' are his most memorable because they capture the spirit of joy better than any poetry I know. His later work is reddened with the glint of ferocious zeal, and there is something truly terrifying about the 'Tyger tyger burning bright / in the forests of the night' and the old woman who nails a boy to a rock and grows young as he grows old, 'catching his shrieks in a cup of gold'. Always beyond his time, always transcending his reality, Blake's poems are moments of seeing 'infinity in the palm of your hand.'

[Oneflwover · Rating 5 out of 5]

He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternitys sun rise

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more then enough.

Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained…

[Adil · Rating 4 out of 5]

just Beautiful, the emotions this book contains are indescribable. Loved reading it.

[Avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review here.