Author: John Higgs
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781474614368
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
'Fascinating' The Times 'Blakeian in its singularity' New Statesman 'A wonderful adventure' Irish Times 'Rich, complex and original' Tom Holland 'A crisp, ambitious and thoroughly contemporary introduction' Times Literary Supplement Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. In this radical new biography, we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion to look afresh at Blake's life and work - and, crucially, his mind. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context and shows us how Blake can help us better understand ourselves.
William Blake Vs the World
Author: John Higgs
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781474614368
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
'Fascinating' The Times 'Blakeian in its singularity' New Statesman 'A wonderful adventure' Irish Times 'Rich, complex and original' Tom Holland 'A crisp, ambitious and thoroughly contemporary introduction' Times Literary Supplement Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. In this radical new biography, we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion to look afresh at Blake's life and work - and, crucially, his mind. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context and shows us how Blake can help us better understand ourselves.
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781474614368
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
'Fascinating' The Times 'Blakeian in its singularity' New Statesman 'A wonderful adventure' Irish Times 'Rich, complex and original' Tom Holland 'A crisp, ambitious and thoroughly contemporary introduction' Times Literary Supplement Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. In this radical new biography, we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion to look afresh at Blake's life and work - and, crucially, his mind. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context and shows us how Blake can help us better understand ourselves.
William Blake Now
Author: John Higgs
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474614345
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 65
Book Description
'If a thing loves, it is infinite' William Blake A short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first century The visionary poet and painter William Blake is a constant presence throughout contemporary culture - from videogames to novels, from sporting events to political rallies and from horror films to designer fashion. Although he died nearly 200 years ago, something about his work continues to haunt the twenty-first century. What is it about Blake that has so endured? In this illuminating essay, John Higgs takes us on a whirlwind tour to prove that far from being the mere New Age counterculture figure that many assume him to be, Blake is now more relevant than ever.
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474614345
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 65
Book Description
'If a thing loves, it is infinite' William Blake A short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first century The visionary poet and painter William Blake is a constant presence throughout contemporary culture - from videogames to novels, from sporting events to political rallies and from horror films to designer fashion. Although he died nearly 200 years ago, something about his work continues to haunt the twenty-first century. What is it about Blake that has so endured? In this illuminating essay, John Higgs takes us on a whirlwind tour to prove that far from being the mere New Age counterculture figure that many assume him to be, Blake is now more relevant than ever.
William Blake
Author: Kathleen Raine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Poets, English
Languages : en
Pages : 68
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Poets, English
Languages : en
Pages : 68
Book Description
Eternity's Sunrise
Author: Leo Damrosch
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300216297
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
William Blake, overlooked in his time, remains an enigmatic figure to contemporary readers despite his near canonical status. Out of a wounding sense of alienation and dividedness he created a profoundly original symbolic language, in which words and images unite in a unique interpretation of self and society. He was a counterculture prophet whose art still challenges us to think afresh about almost every aspect of experience—social, political, philosophical, religious, erotic, and aesthetic. He believed that we live in the midst of Eternity here and now, and that if we could open our consciousness to the fullness of being, it would be like experiencing a sunrise that never ends. Following Blake’s life from beginning to end, acclaimed biographer Leo Damrosch draws extensively on Blake’s poems, his paintings, and his etchings and engravings to offer this generously illustrated account of Blake the man and his vision of our world. The author’s goal is to inspire the reader with the passion he has for his subject, achieving the imaginative response that Blake himself sought to excite. The book is an invitation to understanding and enjoyment, an invitation to appreciate Blake’s imaginative world and, in so doing, to open the doors of our perception.
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300216297
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
William Blake, overlooked in his time, remains an enigmatic figure to contemporary readers despite his near canonical status. Out of a wounding sense of alienation and dividedness he created a profoundly original symbolic language, in which words and images unite in a unique interpretation of self and society. He was a counterculture prophet whose art still challenges us to think afresh about almost every aspect of experience—social, political, philosophical, religious, erotic, and aesthetic. He believed that we live in the midst of Eternity here and now, and that if we could open our consciousness to the fullness of being, it would be like experiencing a sunrise that never ends. Following Blake’s life from beginning to end, acclaimed biographer Leo Damrosch draws extensively on Blake’s poems, his paintings, and his etchings and engravings to offer this generously illustrated account of Blake the man and his vision of our world. The author’s goal is to inspire the reader with the passion he has for his subject, achieving the imaginative response that Blake himself sought to excite. The book is an invitation to understanding and enjoyment, an invitation to appreciate Blake’s imaginative world and, in so doing, to open the doors of our perception.
Songs of Innocence
Author: William Blake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Illumination of books and manuscripts
Languages : en
Pages : 35
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Illumination of books and manuscripts
Languages : en
Pages : 35
Book Description
Jerusalem!
Author: Tobias Churton
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1780287887
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
‘Truly astonishing in its detail … this must be one of the most illuminating and enlightening biographies to date.’ Michael Eavis cbe, Founder of the Glastonbury Festival A brilliant new biography of the mystic poet and artist William Blake – and the first to explore his startlingly original quest for spiritual truth, as well as the profound lessons he has for us all today. The hymn ‘Jerusalem’, with its famous words by William Blake, stirs our hearts with its evocation of a new holy city built in ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. However, until now, the spiritual essence of William Blake has been buried under myriad inadequate biographies, college dissertations and arts commentaries, written by people who have missed the luminescent keys to Blake’s symbolism and liberating spirit. Any attempt to uncover the ‘real’ Blake is thwarted by his status as a legend or ‘national treasure’. In Jerusalem! Tobias Churton expertly takes you beyond this superficial façade, showing you Blake the esoteric genius – a myth-maker, brilliantly using symbols and theology to express his unique insights into the nature of body, mind and spirit. Churton is not only deeply knowledgeable about Blake’s life and times, but also uses his shared values with Blake to enter into his labyrinth of thought and feeling. Challenging the conventional views of Blake as either a ‘romantic poet’ or a rebel with ideas about free sex, Tobias Churton’s startling new biography reveals, at last, the real William Blake in all his glory, so that anyone who sings ‘Jerusalem’ in future will see its beauty with renewed understanding. With access to a large body of never-before-published records – letters, diaries, pamphlets and books – Tobias Churton casts unprecedented light and perspective on William Blake’s life and times. Blake’s writing – heartfelt, vivid and profound – accounts for his status as one of the best-loved poets writing in English. Americans need no reminding that Blake inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson and American visionary Walt Whitman. Yet he spent the larger part of his creative career being ridiculed and suppressed. In Jerusalem! Churton conjures a superb portrait of Blake’s London, and in particular the rivalries of the cultural community in which the poet-artist was often misunderstood. He argues that Blake believed Man does not ‘belong’ to society; rather,we are all members of the Divine Body, co-existent with God. He was concerned with a total spiritual revival – what had gone wrong with Man, and how to put it right. Blake’s message has proved to be as challenging to today’s readers as it was to his contemporaries. Blake perceived, so far ahead of his time, that the philosophy of materialism would dominate the world – a culture from which we now yearn to break free. Jerusalem! is unashamedly ambitious in its scope and objective. Churton ends once and for all the persistent notion of Blake as a startling peculiarity, whilst emancipating him from the labels of ‘Romantic poet’ or ‘national treasure’. Even if it means sacrificing some cherished illusions or uncovering a few painful surprises, this compelling biography reveals, for the first time, the true spirit of William Blake.
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1780287887
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
‘Truly astonishing in its detail … this must be one of the most illuminating and enlightening biographies to date.’ Michael Eavis cbe, Founder of the Glastonbury Festival A brilliant new biography of the mystic poet and artist William Blake – and the first to explore his startlingly original quest for spiritual truth, as well as the profound lessons he has for us all today. The hymn ‘Jerusalem’, with its famous words by William Blake, stirs our hearts with its evocation of a new holy city built in ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. However, until now, the spiritual essence of William Blake has been buried under myriad inadequate biographies, college dissertations and arts commentaries, written by people who have missed the luminescent keys to Blake’s symbolism and liberating spirit. Any attempt to uncover the ‘real’ Blake is thwarted by his status as a legend or ‘national treasure’. In Jerusalem! Tobias Churton expertly takes you beyond this superficial façade, showing you Blake the esoteric genius – a myth-maker, brilliantly using symbols and theology to express his unique insights into the nature of body, mind and spirit. Churton is not only deeply knowledgeable about Blake’s life and times, but also uses his shared values with Blake to enter into his labyrinth of thought and feeling. Challenging the conventional views of Blake as either a ‘romantic poet’ or a rebel with ideas about free sex, Tobias Churton’s startling new biography reveals, at last, the real William Blake in all his glory, so that anyone who sings ‘Jerusalem’ in future will see its beauty with renewed understanding. With access to a large body of never-before-published records – letters, diaries, pamphlets and books – Tobias Churton casts unprecedented light and perspective on William Blake’s life and times. Blake’s writing – heartfelt, vivid and profound – accounts for his status as one of the best-loved poets writing in English. Americans need no reminding that Blake inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson and American visionary Walt Whitman. Yet he spent the larger part of his creative career being ridiculed and suppressed. In Jerusalem! Churton conjures a superb portrait of Blake’s London, and in particular the rivalries of the cultural community in which the poet-artist was often misunderstood. He argues that Blake believed Man does not ‘belong’ to society; rather,we are all members of the Divine Body, co-existent with God. He was concerned with a total spiritual revival – what had gone wrong with Man, and how to put it right. Blake’s message has proved to be as challenging to today’s readers as it was to his contemporaries. Blake perceived, so far ahead of his time, that the philosophy of materialism would dominate the world – a culture from which we now yearn to break free. Jerusalem! is unashamedly ambitious in its scope and objective. Churton ends once and for all the persistent notion of Blake as a startling peculiarity, whilst emancipating him from the labels of ‘Romantic poet’ or ‘national treasure’. Even if it means sacrificing some cherished illusions or uncovering a few painful surprises, this compelling biography reveals, for the first time, the true spirit of William Blake.
William Blake in a Newtonian World
Author: Stuart Peterfreund
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780806130422
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Readers of William Blake have long known of his dislike of Bacon, Newton, & Locke-his "unholy trinity" of thinkers who, as much as anyone in England, have come to symbolize the Enlightenment. In William Blake in a Newtonian World, Stuart Peterfreund assesses Blake's relationship with various currents of the counter- Enlightenment, including religious radicalism, Freemasonry, & the growing political power of essentially self-educated radical artisans. After two decades in which cultural historians have demonstrated that Enlightenment thinkers brought to their scientific pursuits a fair amount of cultural baggage, that era no longer seems the unquestioned exaltation of logic & rationality over superstition that it once did. Moreover, the outlines of a counter-Enlightenment tradition have begun to emerge, a tradition attacking the proposition that observation can be value-free & criticizing the cultural subtexts of a science based on such reasoning. In this thought-provoking volume, Peterfreund examines Blake's struggle against Newtonianism & its discontents as played out in both his lyric & his prophetic poetry. VOLUME 2 OF THE OKLAHOMA PROJECT FOR DISCOURSE & THEORY, SERIES FOR SCIENCE & CULTURE. STUART PETERFREUND is Professor & Chair of English at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1995 to 1997 he served as president of the Society for Literature & Science, & he has held fellowships in History of Science at MIT & Harvard. "William Blake in a Newtonian World is a major contribution to Blake studies & to the discussion of science & literature in the Romantic period."--DAVID STEWART, Department of English, West Virginia University.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780806130422
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Readers of William Blake have long known of his dislike of Bacon, Newton, & Locke-his "unholy trinity" of thinkers who, as much as anyone in England, have come to symbolize the Enlightenment. In William Blake in a Newtonian World, Stuart Peterfreund assesses Blake's relationship with various currents of the counter- Enlightenment, including religious radicalism, Freemasonry, & the growing political power of essentially self-educated radical artisans. After two decades in which cultural historians have demonstrated that Enlightenment thinkers brought to their scientific pursuits a fair amount of cultural baggage, that era no longer seems the unquestioned exaltation of logic & rationality over superstition that it once did. Moreover, the outlines of a counter-Enlightenment tradition have begun to emerge, a tradition attacking the proposition that observation can be value-free & criticizing the cultural subtexts of a science based on such reasoning. In this thought-provoking volume, Peterfreund examines Blake's struggle against Newtonianism & its discontents as played out in both his lyric & his prophetic poetry. VOLUME 2 OF THE OKLAHOMA PROJECT FOR DISCOURSE & THEORY, SERIES FOR SCIENCE & CULTURE. STUART PETERFREUND is Professor & Chair of English at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1995 to 1997 he served as president of the Society for Literature & Science, & he has held fellowships in History of Science at MIT & Harvard. "William Blake in a Newtonian World is a major contribution to Blake studies & to the discussion of science & literature in the Romantic period."--DAVID STEWART, Department of English, West Virginia University.
William Blake
Author: Martin Myrone
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691198314
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
"William Blake is a universal artist--an inspiration to visual artists, musicians, poets, and performers worldwide as well as everyone who aspires to the ideals of personal, spiritual, and creative liberty. His heroic story has inspired an invigorated generations. His personal struggles during a period of political terror and oppression, his technical innovations, and his political commitment all remain deeply relevant today. This book presents a comprehensive overview of Blake's work as a printmaker, poet, and painter, foregrounding his relationship with the art world of his time and telling the stories behind many of his most iconic images."--
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691198314
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
"William Blake is a universal artist--an inspiration to visual artists, musicians, poets, and performers worldwide as well as everyone who aspires to the ideals of personal, spiritual, and creative liberty. His heroic story has inspired an invigorated generations. His personal struggles during a period of political terror and oppression, his technical innovations, and his political commitment all remain deeply relevant today. This book presents a comprehensive overview of Blake's work as a printmaker, poet, and painter, foregrounding his relationship with the art world of his time and telling the stories behind many of his most iconic images."--
The Life of William Blake
Author: Alexander Gilchrist
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artists
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artists
Languages : en
Pages : 676
Book Description
William Blake
Author: William Blake
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500600252
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 480
Book Description
In his illuminated books,William Blake combined his handwritten text with his exuberant imagery on pages the like of which had not been seen since the great decorated books of the Middle Ages. To read such books as Jerusalem, America and Songs of Innocence and of Experience in cold letterpress bears no comparison to seeing and reading them as Blake conceived them, infused with his sublime and exhilarating colours. At times tiny figures and forms dance among the lines of the text, flames appear to burn up the page, and dense passages of Biblical-sounding text are brought to a jarring halt by startling images of death, destruction and liberation. This edition, produced together with The William Blake Trust, contains all the pages of Blakes twenty or so illuminated books reproduced in true size, an appendix with all Blakes text set in type and an introduction by the noted Blake scholar, David Bindman. They can at last become part of the lives of all lovers of art and poetry.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780500600252
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 480
Book Description
In his illuminated books,William Blake combined his handwritten text with his exuberant imagery on pages the like of which had not been seen since the great decorated books of the Middle Ages. To read such books as Jerusalem, America and Songs of Innocence and of Experience in cold letterpress bears no comparison to seeing and reading them as Blake conceived them, infused with his sublime and exhilarating colours. At times tiny figures and forms dance among the lines of the text, flames appear to burn up the page, and dense passages of Biblical-sounding text are brought to a jarring halt by startling images of death, destruction and liberation. This edition, produced together with The William Blake Trust, contains all the pages of Blakes twenty or so illuminated books reproduced in true size, an appendix with all Blakes text set in type and an introduction by the noted Blake scholar, David Bindman. They can at last become part of the lives of all lovers of art and poetry.