[Forgotmytea]

Well, we looked at Blake in our lesson today for revision, and talked about context a bit, so I thought it might be good to add this in.

Historical Context

• Important! A05 - knowledge about Blake's time period, what was happening, etc.

Ideas that influenced Blake:

• Children - Blake saw children as innocent, and believed that they should be free as a bird ("How can the bird that is born for joy/Sit in a cage and sing?" [The Schoolboy]).
• Also the spiritual side of children - their innocent souls. corrupted by the evils in society e.g. being a chimney-sweep.
• The Bible - Blake read this every day!
• But he still hated the Church! He saw Priests as parasites, feeding off the "mystery" of God ("And the caterpillar and fly/Feed on the mystery" [The Human Abstract]), and not teaching what God is really. Also about the control of children (Little Boy lost [Experience], The Chimney-sweeper [both Innocence and Experience], Holy Thursday [both]).
• Sweedenborg - a Sweedish philosopher. He believed in many ideas such as the spiritual world, evil priests, etc. He died before Blake's time, but Blake still took a lot of ideas from him.
• Especially the idea that evil came from men rather than God.
• Blake was also anti-science (Newton painting).
• Revolutions - French and American - he witnessed the burning of Newgate Prison, which inspired him.
• He was the daddy of Romantic poetry in a way - he is often seen as a Romantic, but some of his ideas clash with other Romantic poets such as Keats and Shelley.
• Londoner - Industrial revolution, etc.
• Visionary - he saw his brothers spirit ascending to heaven, and saw angels.

-Saruman