William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795

William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795 PDF Author: Joseph Fletcher
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1785279521
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795 takes seriously William Blake’s wish to be read as a natural philosopher, particularly in his early works, and illuminates the way that poetry and visual art were for Blake an imaginative way of philosophizing. Blake’s poetry and designs reveal a consistent preoccupation with eighteenth-century natural philosophical debates concerning the properties of the physical world, the nature of the soul, and God’s relationship to the material universe. This book traces the history of these debates, and examines images and ideas in Blake’s illuminated books that mark the development of the monist pantheism in his early works, which contend that every material thing is in its essence God, to the idealism of his later period, which casts the natural world as degenerate and illusory. The book argues that Blake’s philosophical thought was not as monolithic as has been previously characterized, and that his deepening engagement with late eighteenth-century vitalist life sciences, including studies of the asexual propagation of the marine polyp, marks his metaphysical turn. In contrast to the vast body of scholarship that emphasizes Blake’s early religious and political positions, William Blake as Natural Philosopher draws out the metaphysics underlying his commitments. In so doing, the book demonstrates that pantheism is important because it entails an ethics that respects the interconnected divinity of all material objects – not just humans – which in turn spurns hierarchical power structures. If everything is alive and essentially divine, Blake’s early work implies, then everything is worthy of respect and capable of giving and receiving infinite delight. Therefore, one should imaginatively and joyfully immerse oneself in the community of other beings in which one is already enmeshed. Often in the works discussed in this book, Blake offers negative examples to suggest his moral philosophy; he dramatizes the disastrous individual and social consequences of humans behaving as if God were a transcendent, immaterial, nonhuman demiurge, and as if they were separate from and ontologically superior to the degraded material universe that they see as composed of inert, lifeless atoms. William Blake as Natural Philosopher traces the evolution of eighteenth-century debates over the vitalist qualities of life and the nature of the soul both in the United Kingdom and on the continent, devoting significant attention to the natural philosophy of Newton, Locke, Berkeley, Leibniz, Buffon, La Mettrie, Hume, Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, and many others.

William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795

William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795 PDF Author: Joseph Fletcher
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1785279521
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
William Blake as Natural Philosopher, 1788-1795 takes seriously William Blake’s wish to be read as a natural philosopher, particularly in his early works, and illuminates the way that poetry and visual art were for Blake an imaginative way of philosophizing. Blake’s poetry and designs reveal a consistent preoccupation with eighteenth-century natural philosophical debates concerning the properties of the physical world, the nature of the soul, and God’s relationship to the material universe. This book traces the history of these debates, and examines images and ideas in Blake’s illuminated books that mark the development of the monist pantheism in his early works, which contend that every material thing is in its essence God, to the idealism of his later period, which casts the natural world as degenerate and illusory. The book argues that Blake’s philosophical thought was not as monolithic as has been previously characterized, and that his deepening engagement with late eighteenth-century vitalist life sciences, including studies of the asexual propagation of the marine polyp, marks his metaphysical turn. In contrast to the vast body of scholarship that emphasizes Blake’s early religious and political positions, William Blake as Natural Philosopher draws out the metaphysics underlying his commitments. In so doing, the book demonstrates that pantheism is important because it entails an ethics that respects the interconnected divinity of all material objects – not just humans – which in turn spurns hierarchical power structures. If everything is alive and essentially divine, Blake’s early work implies, then everything is worthy of respect and capable of giving and receiving infinite delight. Therefore, one should imaginatively and joyfully immerse oneself in the community of other beings in which one is already enmeshed. Often in the works discussed in this book, Blake offers negative examples to suggest his moral philosophy; he dramatizes the disastrous individual and social consequences of humans behaving as if God were a transcendent, immaterial, nonhuman demiurge, and as if they were separate from and ontologically superior to the degraded material universe that they see as composed of inert, lifeless atoms. William Blake as Natural Philosopher traces the evolution of eighteenth-century debates over the vitalist qualities of life and the nature of the soul both in the United Kingdom and on the continent, devoting significant attention to the natural philosophy of Newton, Locke, Berkeley, Leibniz, Buffon, La Mettrie, Hume, Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, and many others.

The Charm of Urizen

The Charm of Urizen PDF Author: Melanie Bryant
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982049617
Category : Fantasy fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
¿His Charm had been destroyed, and the Third Age had begun¿.¿He had been created for good. He had been created to stop the Darkness, the destruction, to bring order from chaos. But at the violent end of the Second Age, as dark flames scorched the landscape and the seas swelled, whipped up by icy winds, it became clear that he had failed. He had changed, and he had used his Charm to imprison the races and species of Earde, subjecting them to his laws and cruelty.Now, millennia later, the Darkness is once again spreading across Earde. As the gates by which the non-blinking magical races travel continue to close, as the fairy races continue to disappear at a breathtaking pace, the Light ones face a terrible truth: the Charm of Urizen was not destroyed; the Dark Queen Lucifæra has found it, and it is making her stronger.Lisandra Ackart, now fifteen, discovers an ancient secret: at the end of the First Destruction, a man had been entrusted with something very special by a very powerful group, something that would keep Earde safe, which could only be used by the Gifted One. So, reunited with her companions, Lisandra sets out to find it. As the four friends travel across the continents of their world, still searching for the Keepers of the ancient Prophecy, the urgency of Lisandra¿s task increases. She must find this infinitely important object before any more species are taken, and she must use it to stop Lucifæra.

Mighty is the Charm

Mighty is the Charm PDF Author: J. Clifton Albergotti
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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William Blake

William Blake PDF Author: David Bindman
Publisher: Ardent Media
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Divided Image

Divided Image PDF Author:
Publisher: Ardent Media
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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William Blake, Poet and Mystic

William Blake, Poet and Mystic PDF Author: Pierre Berger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art and literature
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Divided Image

Divided Image PDF Author: Rudd E. Margaret
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317381327
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
First published in 1953, this book examines Blake’s vision and its impact on the work of Yeats who imitated Blake in the hope that he might find that same vision. Margaret Rudd’s approach is literary as well as philosophical, and psychological and she discusses the work of both poets in this way.

The Engraved Designs of William Blake

The Engraved Designs of William Blake PDF Author: Laurence Binyon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Engraving
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Blake and Goethe

Blake and Goethe PDF Author: Martin Bidney
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Blake's Visionary Universe

Blake's Visionary Universe PDF Author: John B. Beer
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description