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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > English > Blake - Context and Influences
Historical Context
- Important to know! 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 Swedish 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
Comments
These notes are aimed at A Level English Literature students at A2 level.
Originally written by Forgotmytea on TSR Forums.
