In this episode I read you some poems by Blake and tell you a true story! If you are enjoying these spells on the library you might like to support me by popping round to buy me a coffee sometime, which you can do here: www.buymeacoff...
One of the most intriguing literary themes to me is that of the transformative effects of experience. From Coleridge’s wedding guest rising “a sadder and a wiser man . . . the morrow morn” to the Lady of Shalott’s tragic decision to leave her loom and tower, risking the curse to truly see Lancelot and the world to the WWI poets who were forced to abandon their patriotism and “the old lie” as they lived the horrors of the trenches, we see the trade-off that must occur in all of us as we age and yearn for knowledge. Our song of innocence must become the song of experience. As always, many thanks for sharing your library and yourself with us.
Having just finished my last day of secondary school, it's a nice surprise to have one of the poets I studied appear! Thank you for sharing that fantastic story!
I think Blake was so far ahead of his time. In his vision and his talent and also his view on the world and all the things within it. Since I was young I’ve enjoyed anything of his I’ve ever come across and have always been struck by his words and also his images. Even the tigers!
Great to see some Blake! Love his work, for my dissertation I exhibited a number of artists' books, one of them was an 1825 folio of the book of job illustrations. Fantastic thing to go over
It was Bob Dylan’s Nobel speech that prompted me to purchase a kindle copy of Blake’s complete works. No match to your paper, leather and glue treasures, but we must glean wisdom where we can. Thankyou for sharing again!
I've visited a number of cities where it was clear that I'd love to have several years to explore. Your office looks like the sort of place that would reward that kind of attention.
I once knew a poet named William Blake, He made me a great battenburg cake, But it stuck deep in me throat, And I morphed into a slithering stoat, Befriending Blake was a terrible mistake!
I love Coleridge and Samuel Palmer even more than Blake, but Palmer's words about Blake are together about as fine a thing as one man ever wrote about another: "He was a man without a mask; his aim single, his path straightforwards, and his wants few; so he was free, noble, and happy." When I was a teacher I had that as part of my email "signature" -- making it clear that it referred to Blake not to myself. I thought they were good words to think about for myself and for students. The wonderful 33rd chapter of Gilchrist's Life of Blake, from which that quotation is taken, is about the Blake I love most, the Blake whose London residence was, for the young artists who called themselves the Ancients, the "House of the Interpreter" -- borrowing that epithet from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The Gilchrist life of Blake contains four pages ( as printed in the Everyman's Library edition [1945)] by Palmer. I wonder if Palmer's artwork isn't something some people who come here would love -- well, no, I'm sure it is. The best book I know about Palmer is Geoffrey Grigson's Samuel Palmer: The Visionary Years. Good also is David Cecil's Visionary and Dreamer (Palmer is the visionary, Burne-Jones the dreamer). Incidentally the Cecil book is dedicated to poet Ruth Pitter, that wonderful poet.
