Radical poetry: William Blake and the fight against oppression

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

6 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

11/12/2008

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

William Blake - one man against the world.
1. Early childhood visions.
2. Blake and the French Revolution.
3. People's perception of Blake.
The question - 'Holy Thursday'.
1. Description of initial attacks on capitalism and industrialization.
2. Analysis.
Caging the soul - 'The Garden of Love'.
1. Introduction of poem.
2. Opposition to the 'Age of Reason'.
The bleak city - 'London'.
1. 'Chartered' London - attack upon the power of capitalists over the masses.
2. Further evidence of Blake's anger towards Church and State.
3. The collapse of Blake's optimism.
Call to arms - 'Jerusalem'.
1. Reflecting upon previous poems.
2. Blake's ideals and 'Jerusalem's' call to arms.
3. Meaning of the Christ reference in 'Jerusalem'.
Conclusion - the relevance of Blake in the modern world.

Abstract

The industrial revolution. The term conjures up images of unstoppable progress, the advancement of mankind, economic expansion, and technological achievement. At the same time, it also drags up such sights as the oppression of the common man, dehumanizing working conditions, and dreary and hopeless cities decaying under clouds of thick, black smoke. Simultaneously, society is driving headlong into an "Age of Reason" in which religion and faith were rejected in favor of reason and logic. against such a backdrop, william blake seems at best almost anachronistic (Cox). But in spite of its mystical and seemingly irrational verses, blake's poetry is a vivid portrait of a humanity shackled by materialism and tied to the ground by cold logic and greed, a world that he rejects in the resounding call to arms that is "Jerusalem".