Reading Great Books of HumanitiesWeek 10.pptVIP

Reading Great Books of HumanitiesWeek 10 Romanticism Poetry William Blake Robert Burns William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge George Golden Byron Percy Busshe Shelley John Keats William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blakes work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. He was voted 38th in a poll of the 100 Greatest Britons organized by the BBC in 2002. According to Northrop Frye, who undertook a study of Blakes entire poetic corpus, his prophetic poems form what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language. Others have praised Blakes visual artistry, at least one modern critic proclaiming Blake far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced.“ Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical vision that underlies his work. He himself once indicated, The imagination is not a State: it is the Human existence itself. While his visual art and written poetry are usually considered separately, Blake often employed them in concert to create a product that at once defied and superseded convention. Though he believed himself able to converse aloud with Old Testament prophets, and despite his work in illustrating the Book of Job, Blakes affection for the Bible was accompanied by hostility for the established Church, his beliefs modified by a fascination with Mysticism and the unfolding of the Romantic Movement around him. Ultimately, the difficulty of placing William Blake in any one chronological stage of art history is perhaps the distinction that best defines him. 〈秋之詠〉（To Autumn） 秋啊，你滿載果實，染著葡萄的血色，別走，請到我陰涼的屋頂下坐一坐；那裡你可以稍事休憩，將歡樂的聲調調進我清新的蘆笛，所有歲月的女兒會翩然起舞！那時，請你唱果實與花朵的歡歌。「細嫩的蓓蕾向太陽綻開嬌美，愛在她那顫動的血管裡蕩漾；鮮花環飾著黎明的眉宇，飄盪著垂掛到羞怯的黃昏那明亮的臉龐，於是稠密的夏迸發出歌聲，長翅的雲在她頭上灑滿花朵。大