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Those students who have found only frustration in this giant mystic, will here find set forth the structural plan conceived to underlie the poet's cosmic conceptions, and to tie them into an organic whole. For this psychological key, the author has gone back for her sources to the ancient Scriptures, including the Kabbala, to the occult writings of Nietzsche, Thoreau, Boehme and Whitman and early Oriental philosophers. The key to the mystery of Blake is this: that he was a true seer and spokesman because he had come to an understanding of the processes of his own soul. Partial Contents: Symbolism in the songs; Great Crisis; Return to Illumination; Psychology of Symbol; Structural Plan of the Ancient Wisdom; Tiriel; Song of Liberty; America, Europe; Books of Urizen, Los, Ahania; Everlasting Gospel. ... Read more

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The story of the life and work of the visionary poet and artist, William Blake. ... Read more

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UTILISSIMO
Non esiste una controparte italiana di questo prezioso volume, che in modo molto comprensibile consente al lettore di penetrare l'opera di William Blake.
Molto ben scritto....mai meramente didattico....una piacevole lettura.

Indispensabile per chi non voglia restare alle magre introduzioni dei vari libri disponibili da editori italiani. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

simply indispensable
my edition is an older paperback (small) that is falling apart...but it is priceless and certainly worth the effort in getting it.

i used to favor the precise meandering of bloom's friend, derrida....but bloom has staying power and this book really set the stage.

An Indispensable Classic
Serious students of Blake would do well to start here. Lucid, informed and methodical, Bloom's "Blake's Apocalypse" leaves no page unturned amid his exhaustive investigation into the influences, ideas and hopes that comprise Blake's vast and complicated "poetic argument." Though Bloom's erudition can sometimes undermine his clarity, the book glows with the confident understanding and purpose he built his name on. Delving into Blake's main influences -- Milton, the Bible and the ancient Greeks -- Bloom focuses much of his time on Blake's epics while making the good point that these greater works are often neglected in favor of the more managable and straightforward "Songs of Innocence and Experience." "Blake's Apocalypse" is an endless resource comparable to those other masterpieces of Blake scholarship: Frye's "Fearful Symmetry" and Erdman's "Prophet Against Empire." I've been relying on it for months now and can't imagine any session with Blake's mind being complete without it.

A necessity in every sense
Some facts about Harold Bloom. He taught himself to read English (hisfamily spoke Yiddish at home) at the age of 3 or 4. He has a photographicmemory for text, and has more or less the whole canon of English poetrycommitted to memory.

Now granted, these facts don't guarantee genius bythemselves, but Bloom has something extra to add to those other traits--animaginative hunger and an enormous love for poetry and what it can do forthe individual, sensitive reader.

Admittedly, this analysis of Blake owesquite a bit to Northrop Frye's "Fearful Symmetry," but there aremany new insights that make this book worth much more than its price.Whatever one may think about Bloom's later literary analyses, his earlywork has, undeniably, the stamp of genius. ... Read more

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This volume examines William Blake's achievement by discussing and displaying 50 works from the Paul Mellon collection at the Yale Center for British Art. It is the catalogue for an exhibition of Blake's work celebrating the Center's 20th anniversary from April to early July 1997. ... Read more

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From the introduction by Stanley Kunitz:

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In this thoughtful discussion of Blake's well-known Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Singer shows us that Blake was actually tapping into the collective unconscious and giving form and voice to primordial psychological energies, or archetypes, that he experienced in his inner and outer world. With clarity and wisdom, Singer examines the images and words in each plate of Blake's work, applying in her analysis the concepts that Jung brought forth in his psychological theories. Originally published as The Unholy Bible. Index. Bibliography. 24 plates. Part of the Jung on the Hudson Book Series. ... Read more

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"Must" readings for students of Carl Jung and William Blake.
June Singer's Blake, Jung, And The Collective Unconscious examines the words and images contained in Blake's works, considering Jung's concepts of archetypes and other ideas inherent in the verbal and visual images. Animportant, involving work. ... Read more

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William Blake (1757-1827) is recognized today as one of England's great artists and poets, but in his own time he was known principally as a professional engraver. The book illustrations he executed after designs by other artists form a significant part of his graphic productions. These prints are fully described and reproduced for the first time in this authoritative catalog providing new information on the preliminary drawings, and the relationships between Blake's prints and the texts they accompany. The 295 illustrations include all Blake's copy prints published in books and a generous selection of the preliminary drawings from which he worked. ... Read more

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Thou fair-hair'd angel of the evening, Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown Put on, and smile upon our evening bed! Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew. ... Read more

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A look at the life and accomplishments of the former prime minister presents essays by twenty-nine renowned contributors that examine all phases of Churchill's life--from his youth in the aristocracy to his career in Parliament. ... Read more

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KING OF THEM ALL
A GREAT BOOK ON CHURCHILL. many essays most by top notch experts . exept for chapter one by mr cannadine whichis a disasterr most other essays are well documentedand informative.. ... Read more

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Read by an ensemble cast

Evocative, emotional, imaginative, personal, and powerful, these poems revolutionized the art form and still move and inspire us today.The best, most beloved poems by the six leading Romantic poets, performed by renowned British actors in top-quality studio productions. Listen as Douglas Hodge (Middlemarch), Derek Jacobi (Cadfael), Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park), Prunella Scales (An Ideal Husband), Nicol Williamson (Macbeth), and more read these lush, sensuous, rhythmic masterpieces. William Blake: "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright…." Includes Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, Poetical Sketches, a selection from The Rosetti Manuscript, more.Lord Byron: Highlights from Don Juan, The Giaour, and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, shorter lyrics such as "So we’ll go no more a roving" and "Fare thee well," and more, linked by informative commentary.Samuel Taylor Coleridge: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree…." Includes "Kubla Khan," "Frost at Midnight," "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and more, all placed within the context of the poet’s life and times.John Keats: "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode to a Nightingale," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," "The Eve of St. Agnes," "On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer," selections from Endymion, and more.Percy Bysshe Shelley: Excerpts from Prometheus Unbound, Queen Mab, and the autobiographical Epipsychidion, lyrical masterpieces "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark," and more, linked and illuminated by commentary.Williams Wordsworth: Selections from Lyrical Ballads; poems including "I wandered lonely as a cloud," "Composed upon Westminster Bridge," and "To a Sky-Lark;" and many more, with commentary.12 hours on 10 CDs ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A wealth of beautiful poetry, but spare the life stories
Unfortunately, I cannot write a totally positive review of this collection of poetry. But the fault does not lie with the fine recording itself, nor with the talented British actors selected to read these poems. The fault lies rather with the poets Byron and Shelley. You may admire their poetry, and know absolutely nothing about their lives--and that is perhaps the way it should be.

I've never particularly cared for Byron's verse but much of Shelley's poetry I have always admired, and loved. Unfortunately, on this recording, for Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, we don't just hear their poetry, we must endure talk about the various events of their lives. For Wordsworth and Coleridge, this is fine. But for Byron and Shelley, this amounts to not much more than a running account of their wantonness and irresponsibility, thoughtlessness toward others, selfishness and lust. These two poets certainly brought great suffering into the lives of others, especially the women they loved and later abandoned, and the children they carelessly fathered out of wedlock and then abandoned. Thankfully, they died young, Shelley at age 30, Byron at age 36, before they could ruin other lives. There's no doubt their poetry is inspired and often very beautiful. But at what cost to others, and ultimately to themselves? Having to listen to the wastrel saga of their lives distracts from the appreciation of their verse. For that reason, I am reluctant to recommend the discs devoted to Shelley and Byron. Sample and admire their poetry to your heart's content, but spare the biographical commentary about their selfish lives.

As for the others, they are absolutely wonderful! Nicol Williamson does not just read Blake; he IS Blake. Listening to him read the Songs of Innocence brought tears to my eyes. You will come away from hearing the Blake CD overwhelmed by this man's humanity and spiritual depth, as well as his poetic inspiration. The other poet who truly surprised me was Coleridge. We've all heard stories about his opium addiction, but the man himself is presented as excessively thoughtful and considerate of others. He apparently had a very nervous disposition, and was easily discouraged.His life-story is presented in a very positive light, and he comes off very well here.

The Keats CD is another miracle. We are spared the details of Keats' short tragic life. Douglas Hodge reads Keats' greatest poems with such perfect phrasing and the finest British diction, again it is as though one is listening to Keats himself read; it's simply stunning. I will come back to this particular disc many times to hear this authentic Keatsean voice, which gives the great odes their perfect vehicle.

The two Wordsworth CDs are also quite excellent, and again one often has the sense that this is Wordsworth reading from his own work. All of his greatest poems are presented here, as well as generous excerpts from the Prelude. He comes across as a great poet of nature, and above all else a man who tried to see harmony and concord in nature. But it is also evident that he was a man consciously trying to beat back a sense of deep depression as he grew older.

This superb set is sure to be a constant resource for me for many years. This poetry was meant to be heard. Of course not all the poems in this collection are great, but if you are familiar with the romantic poets you will find the poems you most admire in this collection, and you will likely find new ones to admire as well. I highly recommend this set. Many thanks to Highbridge audio for these recordings. Here's hoping that the Victorian poets will soon be presented in the same format.

Some Beautiful Readings of Some Beautiful Poems
I think poetry needs to be listened to...not just read. The trick is finding an audio Cassette or audio CD that does justice to the music of the poem.Since the Romantic poets wrote some of the most wonderful poetry in the English language, many people will want to have such an audio product.I do recommend this CD without reservation. Why four versus five stars? One of the most interesting parts of the CD collection are the autobiographical materials that precede the poems; neither John Keats nor William Blake received "that historical treatment" in this audio product. This is a minor complaint.Also, some of the readers are better than others.Jeremy Northam version of Coleridge's THE EOLIAN HARP is wonderful, perhaps worth the price of the CD alone.

GIFTED ACTORS READ TREASURED POEMS

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
William Blake

Remember Eng. Lit. class when it was announced that assigned reading would be the works of the Romantic Poets?That usually elicited a chorus of groans (I confess, myself included).What a difference it would have made if my introduction to this poetry had been in the voices of the marvelous British actors featured on this audio edition!Familiar words and phrases take on new meaning when delivered by these talented performers. Listeners may find additional insights into an author's intent revealed in the deep, rich tones of Derek Jacobi or the lyrical delivery of Prunella Scales.

Highbridge has gathered an ensemble cast to bring the words of the world's most famous writers to life.Performers, in addition to Jacobi and Scales, are Jeremy Northam, Nicol Williamson, Stella Gonet, Haydn Gwynne, Douglas Hodge, David Horovitch, Alex Jennings, Nathaniel Parker, Diana Quick, and Sian Thomas.Each voice is perfectly matched to the verses rendered.

Among the poets whose works are performed are William Blake, a visionary British artist and writer,who illustrated all of his own writings.In addition to "Songs of Experience" from which the famous lines quoted above are taken, we hear Blake's compelling "Songs of Innocence."

The handsome Lord Byron is represented by his satirical "Don Juan plus others, while "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" remembers Samuel Taylor Coleridge.A collection would be incomplete without "On A Grecian Urn" and "Ode To A Nightingale" by John Keats and Shelley's "To A Skylark."Remember "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (from "Lyrical Ballads" by William Wordsworth with Coleridge)?It, too, is included along with many others - over 12 hours of beautiful poetry.

"The Romantic Poets" is an audio book to be treasured and heard over and over again - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

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1926. Contents: Boyhood 1757-1771; Apprenticeship and Marriage; Lyrical Poems; Poland Street and the Early Prophecies; Lambeth; Blake's Ideas on Art; Felpham with Hayley; Milton and Jerusalem; London Once More; Disciples and Death; Blake and the Sublime. ... Read more

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Classic 1863 biography—largely credited with rescuing the great English poet and painter from oblivion—offers sensitive discussions of Blake’s childhood, years as an engraver’s apprentice, relations with patrons and employers, trial for treason, declining health, untimely death, much more. Also, expert critical commentary.on boyhood poems, and great poetic and artistic masterpieces of Blake’s maturity. Over 40 of Blake’s own illustrations.
Amazon.com Review
Of William Blake, William Wordsworth said, "There issomething in the madness of this man which interests me more than thesanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott." Blake was, after all,known to report on his "conversations" with such deadnotables as the great Milton. He felt no constraint in sharing thebold content of his vivid imagination. "Once [he] was walkingdown Cheapside with a friend," Alexander Gilchristwrites. "Suddenly he took off his hat and bowed low. 'What didyou do that for?' 'Oh! that was the Apostle Paul.'" Thisfull-length study of the visionary artist and poet, first published in1863, is credited with bringing to light not only the unique genius ofWilliam Blake, but his body of work.

When Gilchrist wrote thiscritical biography, the world was largely ignorant of William Blake(1757-1827). Most of his works--visual and poetic--were "neverpublished at all ... [and] Blake's poems were ... not even printed inhis life-time; simply engraved by his own laborious hand." Thefirst-edition printing of Songs of Innocence and Experience,for example, consisted of slightly more than 20 copies. Nevertheless,Blake was not spared the ironic fate of so many posthumously honoredartists. At the time of Gilchrist's writing, "Blake drawings,Blake prints fetch prices which would have solaced a life of penury,had their producer received them."

Of course, it's nosurprise that The Life of William Blake is drenched in thestyle peculiar to the late 19th century, as if proclaimed in an echochamber where lofty and pious tones vie with the sentimental. Still,who isn't drawn into the central tragedy of Blake's life? He had thecapacity to become a great public and religious poet, but insteadturned in upon himself, gaining neither reputation nor afollowing. Blake was simply not of his time, "partly by choice;partly from the necessities of imperfect education."

Althoughin paperback, this volume suggests antiquity--the type fonts arereminiscent of those used in the dusty, old tomes found in Grandma'sattic. Chapter titles reflect the 19th-century sensibility ("ABoy's Poems," "Struggle and Sorrow," "Mad or NotMad?"). The 39 chapters also reveal Gilchrist's exhaustive studyof Blake's life. His report of Blake's first vision at the age of 8reveals the 19th-century tone: "Sauntering along, the boy looksup and sees a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wingsbespangling every bough like stars." Unabridged and illustratedwith 40 black-and-white photographs of Blake's engravings, this firstcritical biography will interest the Blake scholar wishing to add amore period feel to his or her body of research (100 years separateGilchrist from his subject), as well as the Blake fan in the mood fora courtly and doting guide. --Hollis Giammatteo ... Read more

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Rumor From Another World
Gilchrist had two things going for him as Blake's first biographer. He remains the only one of them all who actually got to talk to people who knew Blake, who were friends with he and his wife. Secondly, he was alert enough to recognize Blake's genius despite the neglect with which it continued to be treated even as Gilchrist wrote the book. Just as Harold Bloom suggests that Emerson proved his own genius by being the first to recognize Whitman's, the same ought to be said of Gilchrist. Throughout Gilchrist's account, he cites conversations and letters exchanged with various friends of Blake, from Samuel Palmer to Crabb Robinson and others. Palmer serves up a gorgeous and sensitive portrait of Blake in a letter to Gilchrist, while Gilchrist's copious quoting of Robinson's talks with Blake are ceaselessly fascinating.

To read this first of countless Blake biographies before one of the more recent ones is to strap yourself into a time machine and launch from one world to entirely another. Writing in the 1860s, Gilchrist's language reflects just how jaded we've become over time. Full of purple but no less delightful prose, Gilchrist's often adoring book stops at nothing to ensure the sanctity of his subject. One of Blake's early and comparatively minor "Song" poems from the "Poetical Sketches" is described as possessing "shy evanescent tints and aroma as of pressed rose-leaves."

Yet for all the book's haughtiness, it is Gilchrist's fascinating renunciation of criticism that most distinguishes him from we post-moderns: "Criticism is idle. How analyze a violet's perfume, or dissect the bloom on a butterfly's wing?" It would be a long way to Freud, Brooks, Frye, Vendler and Bloom. While Gilchrist often goes to boring lengths in describing Blake's paintings and engravings (as in the tedious "Supplementary" chapter at the end), it is a good thing he did decide to lay off the criticism, as Gilchrist often reveals a complete and astonishing inability to fathom so much of Blake's work. He repeatedly surrenders to the abstractness of Blake's epics, condemning Jerusalem's language as "words empty of meaning to all but him who uttered them" and says of Blake's "Milton" that "few are the readers who will ever penetrate beyond the first page or two."

But it is the book's charm that designates it a literary monument. "Fully to appreciate the poetry as the lad Blake composed in the years 1768-77. let us call to mind the dates at which first peeped above the horizon the cardinal lights which people our modern poetic heavens," Gilchrist carries on at the book's onset. The author often blurs the line between eloquence and coherence early on, but soon, as if the immensity of Gilchrist's project gradually wore him down, the book assumes a far more pedestrian tone and becomes all the more wrenching a read because of it.

The book's most powerful moment comes in a chapter called "Personal Details" which, if you can sift through Gilchrist's romantic elaborations, makes for a singularly moving document of Blake, the man and the artist, including such meticulously vivid observations as to his clothes, the shape of his head and nose, the look in his eyes, the way he carried his five-foot-six frame. "his clothes were threadbare," Gilchrist writes, "and his gray trousers had worn black and shiny in front, like a mechanic's. Out of doors, he was more particular, so that his dress did not, in the streets of London, challenge attention either way." These details along with those offered by many of the Blake acquaintances Gilchrist was able to interview throughout the book make it an indispensable document of a deeply poignant and fascinating life.
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PREFACE "JERUSALEM," the longest and the most splendid of the Prophetical J Books engraved by William Blake, was first published in the form of one hundred pages of text and illustrations, dated from South Molton Street, 1804, though this date represents rather the beginning than the conclusion of its composition. It has been twice reproduced in facsimile, once separately, and once (much reduced), in the three volume edition of" Blake's works by Messrs. Ellis and Yeais in 1893, but it has never hitherto been printed in ordinary type; and those who have tried to study the Prophetical Books will realize the need for such a text if reading and reference are to be possible without the inordinate strain and fatigue involved in the use of a facsimile. It is only when the complete works of Blake are readily accessible and legible that we may hope that the greatest of English mystics will be adequately studied and appreciated; and if this is to be, the divorce of the poem from its illustr

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Contents of this set
This set includes the Dover color facsimiles of Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Illustrations are a Must Have!
The full page colored illustrations included in this set are essential to your understanding of Blake's poetry. These illustrations were engraved by Blake himself to accompany each of his poems, and they really let you see the deeper meaning in much of his poetry. I would recommend these books to anyone who would like to take a deeper look into Blake's mind. Blake meant for his poetry and art to be viewed together, and many collections of Blake's poems these days do not include this thought provoking art.

Essential Blake
This is a GREAT set. I was amazed and well-pleased. Blake is essential for thinkers...and this is just a slight sample of his talent. I'd recommend it for those who love to think and to learn. Very heady--good food!

Tikya!
ari ... Read more

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Sung closely examines William Blake's extant engraved copper plates, a previously under-used resource, and arrives at a new interpretation of his working process. Thirty-nine engraved copper plates survive, including twenty-two for illustrations for the Book of Job. Sung argues that hammer marks to the reverse of the plates point to high levels of repoussage, suggesting that Blake revised and corrected his work more than was previously thought. This belies the Romantic ideal that the acts of conception and execution are simultaneous in the creative process. ... Read more

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Although the concept of the performative has influenced literary theory in numerous ways, this book represents one of the first full-length studies of performative language in literary texts. Creating States examines the visionary poetry of John Milton and William Blake, using a critical approach based on principles of speech-act theory as articulated by J.L. Austin, John Searle, and Emile Benveniste. Angela Esterhammer proposes a new way of understanding the relationship between these two poets, while at the same time evaluating the role of speech-act philosophy in the reading of visionary poetry and Romantic literature.

Esterhammer distinguishes between the 'sociopolitical performative,' the speech act which is defined by a societal context and derives power from institutional authority, and the `phenomenological performative,' language which is invested with the power to posit or create because of the individual will and consciousness of the speaker.

Analysing texts such as The Reason of Church-Government, Paradise Lost, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Jerusalem, Esterhammer traces the parallel evolution of Milton and Blake from writers of political and anti-prelatical tracts to poets who, having failed in their attempts to alter historical circumstances through a direct address to their contemporaries, reaffirm their faith in individual visionary consciousness and the creative word - while continuing to use the forms of a socially or politically performative language. ... Read more