Blake Context: AO4

Blake Context: AO4

1. Born in London on 28/11/1757

2. As a child, Blake wandered freely around the city and countryside

   • Created visions to use in later life e.g. Angels in Trees, God's face at Window
     • Discouraged by his parents

3. Blake was self taught; he did not attend school

4. Aged 14: Began working as an engraver, illustrating books/periodicals

5. Married until death

6. 1784: Blake and younger brother, Robert, went into printing business

   • Business failed after 2yrs when Robert died
     • Blake then turned to 'copperplate etching' perfecting a technique enabling him to produce illustrations and verse on single page
       • This technique used in 'Songs of Innocence and Experience'

7. Illustrated most of his poems as well as those of other writers

   • Primarily known as an artist rather than a poet

8. Blakes influence

   • Jim Morrison: "if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is - infinite"

9. Dominance of Church of England

   • Established, national church governed by monarch
   • Religious outlook didn't suit many, who instead formed their own associations & churches with similar 'dissenters'
   • Those who didn't belong to the Church had fewer rights e.g. Limited access to House of Commons/Universities (only Oxford & Cambridge at the time)
   • Non-members (i.e. Blake) were therefore excluded from public life

10. Attitudes of dissenters

    • Focused on 'God within' rather than 'God beyond' human beings
    • Some denied existence of an 'external God' altogether - for them, God existed only in human beings who were full of the Holy Spirit

11. Believed that organised religion was an agent of social control instead of a source of life and liberation

12. John Locke Essay 'Concerning Human Understanding': "the human mind is a blank state of birth"

    • Therefore, everything humans know/think comes through experience of their senses - they reflect on these experiences
      • Blake's opposition to Locke: Believed that understanding can only be achieved through creativity of the imagination - enables people to see through eyes of the creative imagination responsible for the world (i.e. God)
    • Knowledge of world issues comes from observation and analysis

13. Witnessed arrest, revolution - saw and lived through a turbulent time (e.g. 'London')

14. Children in Christianity at the time of Blake's writing

    • Rousseao: "Children are born innocent and later corrupted by society" - However Establishment believed children were born evil and the 'good' had to be reeled out of them as they grew up

15. Blake believed in the eyes of God - everyone is equal

16. Short tempered man - saw a black woman being attacked, launched himself into the scene with such anger/passion that the attacker 'recoiled and collapsed' - Took matters into his own hands

17. Blake witnessed a boy 'hobbling along with a log tied to his foot', he demanded in violent terms that the boy should be freed