Night Thoughts: Or, the Complaint and the Consolation

by William Blake (Illustrator), Edward Young, Robert Essick (Editor)

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

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1797

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

[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.