# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By using this site, you agree we can set and use cookies. For more details of these cookies and how to disable them, see our cookie policy.

Blake's two chimney sweepers

Songs of Innocence and of Experience contains two poems about young chimney sweepers: one in 'Innocence' and one in 'Experience'. Dr Linda Freedman considers how this allows for a complex, subtle engagement with the figure of the sweep.

The Notebook of William Blake

View images from this item (113)

William Blake's notebook draft of 'The Chimney Sweeper' for Songs of Experience.

In William Blake's London, the fate of chimney sweeps was a cruel one. Little boys as young as six were often sold by families who could not afford to feed them and apprenticed to the trade. They were sent terrified up the dangerous and dark chimneys and, if they dared refuse, they were frequently terrorised by their new masters, who threatened to return them to the life of poverty and starvation from whence they had come. As the House Report on Sweeps shows[1], the job was not only horribly frightening but also profoundly dangerous. Sweeps suffered high rates of cancer from exposure to soot, along with respiratory diseases, broken bones and stunted growth. Sweeps usually chose the chimney over starvation but whatever choice they made, their lives were haunted by a fear of death.

Blake wrote two poems about the young sweeps he saw suffering in the streets of London. He placed one in the Songs of Innocence and the other in the Songs of Experience. The Songs of Innocence and Experience was printed in two phases. In 1789, Blake printed the first few copies of The Songs of Innocence and, in 1794, he bound these together with more illuminated plates and titled the work T he Songs of Innocence and Experience: shewing two sides of the human soul. Blake therefore declared his interest in duality on the very first page of the 1794 edition. When he took the fate of chimney sweeps as the subject for a poem in both Innocence and Experience, he gave us at least two ways of seeing the same social predicament.

The Title-page to William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1794.

From the report made by the Parliamentary Committee on the employment of children as chimney-sweeps, 1817.

An adult sweep with two apprentices, from Rowlandson's Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, 1821.

By comparing Blake's two 'Chimney Sweeper' poems, we can get some sense of his feelings about innocence and experience as 'contrary states'. The sweep in Innocence doesn't understand the life in which he finds himself. He is sold 'while yet [his] tongue, / Could scarcely cry weep weep, weep weep'. 'Weep' sounds very like 'sweep'. This is a poetic strategy with which Blake suggests that as there is little difference in the way the words sound to our ears, so there is little difference in what the words mean to the child. But the child's language is not adequate to make sense of his sorrow. He does not know that he has been taught a false language, which makes him believe that sadness must be a fact of everyday life.

The little child who narrates the Song from Innocence is, therefore, unable to comprehend the world in which he finds himself. This makes innocence a much more frightening state than experience. The chimney sweeper of Experience knows his position is one of 'misery' and angrily berates society for it. Like the child of Innocence he cries 'weep weep' and Blake again puns on the similarity of sound between 'weep' and 'sweep'. The difference is that the child of experience knows this life has been forced upon him and he realises that he has been 'taught' the language of the sweep's sorrowful life. Unlike innocence, Blake suggests that experience is a state of knowledge and control.

The child of experience directs his anger at the organised religion of the church. In the last line of the poem, he implies that the church profits from the miserable life that he leads and therefore 'make[s] up a heaven of our misery'. This suggests that organised religion is built upon innocent pain. It also suggests that the church weaves a fiction of happiness, pretending that children like the sweep are satisfied instead of suffering. The sin of organised religion, as Blake sees it, is to prevent people from seeing things as they are by training them in the fallacy of received wisdom. So Blake implies that social problems are intimately connected with spiritual problems. Just as the child's parents fail to perceive his misery, so they fail to perceive the lack of spiritual truth in the doctrines and practices of the church.

Report into employing boys as chimney sweeps

View images from this item (6)

From the report made by the Parliamentary Committee on the employment of children as chimney-sweeps, 1817.

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience

View images from this item (50)

'The Chimney Sweeper' from William Blake's Songs of Innocence, 1789.

In 'The Chimney Sweeper' of Innocence, the speaker's friend, little Tom Dacre, has a dream, which discloses the malicious fiction that suffering in this world is relieved by salvation in the next. Without the tools of experience, which would equip him to see this falsehood for what it is, Tom Dacre, like the innocent narrator, is little more than a ventriloquial voice for institutional control. In the last line of the poem he parrots the doctrine of oppression: 'So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm'. Like the innocent narrator, he has internalised the language of abuse and does not have the vocabulary with which to criticise it.

Blake's illuminated plates depict noticeably different kinds of figures. In The Songs of Innocence the small, dancing forms of children seem natural extensions of the vines and leaves and curling calligraphy. Three little figures at the top of the plate are barely distinguishable from it. All the children, here, have a light and unearthly quality, far removed from the life of the chimney sweep. The green in the foreground suggests a paradisial landscape. The adult figure in the bottom right-hand corner is reminiscent of Blake's depictions of Jesus. This is the platitudinous image of salvation, not a depiction of the real conditions of suffering.

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience

View images from this item (50)

'The Chimney Sweeper' from Songs of Innocence and Experience, 1794.

By contrast, the plate from The Songs of Experience shows a child bent over, hardly able to withstand the onslaught of winter weather and hard work. His face is turned accusingly towards the viewer and turned upwards. This puts us in an uncomfortably similar position to the parents, who are 'gone up to the church to pray'. Unlike the plate from Innocence, where the figures are slender and free of earthly restraint, this boy is heavyset. The snow drives down and the sky is dark. The colouring of the plate is black, white and a kind of muddy brown, suggesting a winter scene where nothing can grow or thrive.

These two poems are not only about the atrocious fate of chimney sweeps in Blake's society. They are also a comment on the contrary states of innocence and experience. Innocence, here, seems a more frightening condition because the innocent have no way of understanding the world in which they live. By contrast, the child of experience is a vocal social critic. Blake entwines this social criticism with criticism of organised religion precisely because he sees both issues as manifestations of the same fundamental problem of blinkered perception. This, for Blake, is the real barrier to social progress. But only the child of experience is able to see the platitudes of church and state for what Blake believes they are: the malice that keeps little boys chained to a terrifying and dangerous life.

The Cries of London

View images from this item (10)

Sweep! Sweep ho! Sweep! From Sam Syntax's Description of the Cries of London, 1821.

Footnotes

[1] Houses of Commons, Report from the Committee of the ... House of Commons on the employment of Boys in sweeping of Chimneys, ed. by William Tooke the Younger (London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1817).

Dr Linda Freedman is a Lecturer in British and American literature at University College London. She is the author of Emily Dickinson and the Religious Imagination (CUP, 2011) and has a forthcoming book on William Blake and America. Her research and teaching interests range from the Romantic period to the present day and she is particularly interested in connections between literature, theology and the visual arts.

Sign up to our newsletter

British Library newsletter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Blake's two chimney sweepers | The British Library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By using this site, you agree we can set and use cookies. For more details of these cookies and how to disable them, see our cookie policy. Blake's two chimney sweepers Songs of Innocence and of Experience contains two poems about young chimney sweepers: one in 'Innocence' and one in 'Experience'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Though his work was largely uncelebrated while he was alive, the English poet William Blake has come to be one of the most influential artists of his era. Now, in the London borough of Lambeth, an impressive open-air gallery serves as an homage to Blake's body of work. Here, a series of mosaics is dotted along a trio of railway arches, each honoring a piece of Blake's art.

The gallery is located near the site of Blake's former home. From 1790 to 1800, Blake and his wife Catherine lived on Hercules Road. Though the area is now bustling, it was a quieter, greener space in the late 19th century. The terrace house where Blake once lived was demolished in 1917.

But starting in 2007, this art project brought the poet and painter back into his old neighborhood. The mosaics were created over the course of seven years with the help of more than 300 local volunteers. As of 2020 this free collection showcases an extensive total of 70 pieces of artwork.

While initially seven years could be interpreted as a rather lengthy timeframe for this effort, each one has been carefully pieced together by hand with the help of Southbank Mosaics. Located just a short distance from Waterloo Station, the works adorn a trio of railway arches along Carlisle Lane, Virgil Street and Centaur Street. Here, under the dripping arches, with a soundtrack provided by the trains rumbling by overhead, the natural atmosphere seems to provide the perfect environment to compliment Blake's artistic vision. Every mural reflects a piece of Blake's art-some are recreations of paintings, while others are inspired by verses of poetry.

There is also a blue plaque at Hercules Road, marking the site of the original William Blake Estate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Though his work was largely uncelebrated while he was alive, the English poet William Blake has come to be one of the most influential artists of his era. Now, in the London borough of Lambeth, an impressive open-air gallery serves as an homage to Blake's body of work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
British artist Banksy's latest artwork in New York, Sirens of the Lambs, sees a slaughterhouse delivery truck full of stuffed animals driving round the city's streets. The vehicle has been around the Meatpacking district and will continue to tour New York for two weeks. The artist has released a series of new street art around the city

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Banksy's 'Sirens of the Lambs' sees cuddly toys taken for slaughter - video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
British artist Banksy's latest artwork in New York, Sirens of the Lambs, sees a slaughterhouse delivery truck full of stuffed animals driving round the city's streets. The vehicle has been around the Meatpacking district and will continue to tour New York for two weeks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience | Tate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Take a closer look at William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience in their original illustrated form. Read a summary and analysis of each poem and listen to audio recordings in this resource.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Look Closer

Explore seven of Blake's illustrations to Dante's classic work in detail

In 1824, Blake's friend the artist John Linnell, commissioned him to make a series of illustrations based on Dante's Divine Comedy. Blake was then in his late sixties. A contemporary account informs us that he designed 100 watercolours of this subject 'during a fortnight's illness in bed.'

Here you'll find seven illustrations from Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Each picture is accompanied by an explanation and an original audio recording from the 1812 translation of Dante that Blake himself used when making his designs. So this is your chance to learn not just about Blake, but also about the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321).

Hell, Canto 1

The Divine Comedy opens with Dante lost in a dark wood in a fearful valley. Finally he sees a hill on which the sun is shining, and his heart fills with hope. But as he starts his climb, he is confronted by three beasts.

First comes a leopard, that, while not really frightening him, does block his path. Then comes a ferocious, ravenous lion followed by a she-wolf. Dante is terrified and is losing all hope of climbing the hill when a man appears. It is Virgil, the Roman epic poet. He has been sent by Beatrice (the woman Dante loved and who inspired him to write) to lead him on a journey of discovery through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.

To explain the allegory: Dante, busied about the affairs of the world, has wandered from the path of righteousness. He tries to find the path back but is diverted by worldly pleasure (the leopard), worldly ambition (the lion), and by avarice (the she-wolf). Virgil, who represents reason, has come to lead Dante to Beatrice, who represents Divine revelation and the state of grace.

Notice the Christ-like pose and appearance (diaphanous robes, flowing locks) of Virgil, and the exaggerated 'terror pose' of the fleeing Dante. Notice also that the three beasts hardly look terrifying at all. Blake, in fact, seemed to have difficulties depicting wild animals. (Compare, for example, the tiger in Songs of Experience).

Hell, Canto 3

Dante is being led by Virgil, the Roman poet, through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Here they are shown entering the Gate of Hell. Once inside, they shall first pass through the region where the souls of the uncommitted (those who lived their lives without doing anything notably good or bad) reside. They shall then be ferried by Charon across the river Acheron into Hell proper. Virgil is the right-hand figure in blue, Dante the left-hand one in grey.

Notice how the greenery framing the outside of the gate contrasts with the bleak panorama of fire and ice inside. If you look carefully you can see tiny figures in torment on the hills. These successive hills represent the different circles of hell, where the souls of people guilty of different sins are punished in an appropriate manner. Those guilty of the sin of lust, for example, are buffeted about by the winds of passion and desire in the second circle.

Hell, Canto 5

In this circle people guilty of the sin of lust are whirled round and round in an unending storm. The storm, of course, represents irresistible passion. Among those being blown about are mythic and historical queens such as Helen of Troy and Cleopatra of Egypt. Dante, however, chooses to speak to Paolo and Francesca, famous lovers from Rimini.

Francesca had been married to the brave, but physically deformed Gianciotto. She was reading an Arthurian romance with his better-looking brother, Paolo, when passion got the better of them. Gianciotto, enraged, murdered them both, for which he was consigned to the deepest circle of Hell (where Dante shall later meet him).

Dante is so moved by this romantic tale that he faints, hence his position flat on his back. Notice that above Virgil's head a sun-like disc contains a sketch of a couple embracing, while the wind-blown lovers themselves seem to be flying up and out of the picture to freedom. Blake disapproved of Dante for depicting God as a vengeful judge, whose role was to inflict ingenious punishment (similar to his own Urizen), and these details are his subtle protest. As we can see in poems such as The Garden Of Love, Blake himself believed that suppressing desire was a far worse crime than yielding to it.

Hell, Canto 6

Cerberus is a monstrous three-headed dog who stood guard over Hades, the Hell of classical mythology. Here in the Divine Comedy he stands guard over the third circle of Hell. He is always hungry, and will only allow Dante and Virgil to pass after they have placated him by throwing earth into his three mouths. It is the gluttons who are punished in this circle. Their fate is to lie wallowing in the mud like pigs, pelted by an endless storm of hail and snow, in the very opposite of luxury.

Compare this monster with those in Dante Running from the Three Beasts or Ghost of a Flea.

Hell, Canto 19

Simony is the sin of exploiting one's position in the church to make money, and the eighth Circle of Hell is a chasm containing the popes guilty of this sin. Their punishment is to be thrust upside down in a stone hole, with the soles of their feet on fire.

This picture depicts Pope Nicholas III. Dante has just been ranting against the corruption of the church, and against Nicholas in particular. In response, Pope Nicholas has writhed in anger, causing an alarmed Dante to leap into Virgil's arms.

Notice how Dante seems to have literally shrunk from fear. Notice also the blue-lighting that gives an atmosphere of unworldly horror to this dynamic picture.

Purgatory, Canto 29

In this picture Dante (standing in the right hand corner) finally meets Beatrice, who is the crowned figure on the chariot. Beatrice was the love of Dante's life, and was the subject of his first collection of poems, Vita Nuova. She died when she was only 25 years old - hence her presence in the afterlife as the central figure of The Divine Comedy.

Anxious that Dante had gone astray after her death, it was Beatrice who, in the scheme of the poem, arranged for Virgil to guide him through Hell and Purgatory. She is veiled but Dante nonetheless senses who she is and begins to tremble. Beatrice, however, represents more than love. In the scheme of the poem she is divine revelation and grace.

The rich and bright colours used here express Dante's double delight. He is reunited with his lady-love, and at the same time is experiencing a revelation of the divine.

Paradise, Canto 28

In Paradise Beatrice has replaced Virgil as Dante's guide. They are now close to God, and so nearly at the end of their journey.

This picture shows the angels arranged in concentric circles of light around the deity. Beatrice explains to Dante that the closer to God they stand, the brighter and the more powerful they are. God at the center is depicted as a bearded old man resembling Urizen. The angels (somewhat like the staff in the hierarchy of a Japanese company) grow older as they get closer to God, although immediately beside Him are the younger Cherubim and Seraphim.

Blake died while working on this commission, so this picture, which comes from the end of Dante's trilogy, remains an unfinished sketch. The loss is less than it might be since Blake (like Gustave Dore and other artists who have illustrated Dante) found that Purgatory and Paradise offer much less interesting subject matter than Hell with all its perverse and bizarre punishments.

Take a closer look at several of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience in their original illustrated form

Take a closer look at Blake's longest - and most mysterious - illuminated book

Blake believed in the power of the imagination. Meet the various characters in his personal mythology and their meaning in his imaginary world

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
William Blake's illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy | Tate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Take a closer look at William Blake's illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Read a summary and analysis of sections from Dante's epic poem and listen to recordings of each section.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mary Wollstonecraft and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Dangerous Minds’ Episode 4 - Mary Wollstonecraft

# data[].attributes.headline
Coleridge - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (lines 1-82)

# data[].attributes.subject
Coleridge - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (lines 1-82)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Richard Burton reads S.T. Coleridge's 'The Rime of the ancient Mariner' - Upload 1/3

# data[].attributes.headline
Wordwworth - Composed upon Westminster Bridge, read by Sir Ian McKellen

# data[].attributes.subject
Wordwworth - Composed upon Westminster Bridge, read by Sir Ian McKellen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sir Ian McKellen reading Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
William Wordsworth's daffodils poem (I wandered lonely as a cloud)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rapper Recites William Blake's London Poem l Simon Schama's The Romantic Revolution | BBC Select

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"The Tyger" by William Blake (by Dame Helen Mirren)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Lamb by William Blake - Read by Sir Ralph Richardson

# data[].attributes.body
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Jerusalem and God save the Queen - Last night of the Proms 2012

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cycle hire docking stations are located on Millbank Tower (320 metres), Rampayne Street near Pimlico Tube station (480 metres) Vauxhall Bridge (643 metres) and Regency Street Westminster (645 metres). Find availability on Transport For London.

To park your own bike, parking spots are available near the Manton entrance on Atterbury Street. See all parking spots on Active Things.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
British art from 1500 to the present day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
William Blake e le sue opere. Il post di oggi è dedicato a uno degli artisti inglesi che ha fatto la storia del Romanticismo in arte e poesia alla fine del Settecento: William Blake.

Ho da poco visitato la mostra dedicata i suoi lavori alla Tate Britain di Londra e per la prima volta ho visto dal vivo le sue opere quasi surreali che mi hanno colpito per originalità e spiritualità.

William Blake è noto per aver realizzato lavori legati alla sua fede religiosa e ai suoi problemi esistenziali. Molte delle sue opere sono considerate una risposta alle sue ossessioni religiose, che lo hanno tormentato per tutta la vita. E infatti credeva fortemente nella distinzione tra bene e male e di essere al tempo stesso un Cristiano devoto. In realtà la sua era una visione personale e surreale della cristianità, spesso non accettata dai contemporanei.

William Blake e le sue opere. Formazione

Blake nasce qui a Londra alla metà del '700 da una famiglia di negozianti di Soho che lo incoraggia a seguire le proprie passioni fin da bambino. Frequenta fino a 14 anni una scuola di disegno per poi iniziare un apprendistato come incisore in una delle famiglie di incisori inglesi più famose nella storia, quella di James Basire.

La tecnica dell'incisione prevede la copia di un'immagine attraverso il taglio di linee sottili su una lastra di metallo in modo che questa immagine possa essere stampata e riprodotta più volte. E Blake ama la precisione necessaria per questo lavoro.

A causa del fatto che le sue opere sono così differenti da quelle dei contemporanei molti credono che sia stato un artista non educato ai canoni classici dell'arte. In realtà non è così. Blake si allontana infatti consapevolmente fin dagli inizi della sua carriera da artista dalle scelte convenzionali dell'arte di quel periodo. Vuole creare uno stile unico e personale.

Si racconta ad esempio che il maestro Basire lo mandasse da ragazzino fuori dallo studio per andare a disegnare dal vero le architetture della città di Londra solo perchè gli altri apprendisti non lo volevano intorno. Invece si è scoperto con il tempo che questo esercizio di stile era importante per Blake che amava disegnare e trascorrere così il suo tempo.

William Blake alla Royal Academy of Arts di Londra

Dopo 7 anni di apprendistato da incisore, William Blake si iscrive alla Royal Academy of Arts. L'esperienza in Accademia verso la fine del '700 è una di quelle che cambia davvero un artista. I modelli di moda in questo periodo sono la scultura greca e romana. E le caratteristiche da sviluppare nelle proprie opere: l'ordine e la perfezione.

Ma tutto questo è molto lontano dagli interessi di Blake che desidera invece creare una propria visione dell'arte molto più vicina al Gotico che al classico. Spesso si trova a criticare i suoi insegnanti troppo presi da interessi personali di carriera. Ma unica eccezione è Henry Fuseli che condivide con lui l'idea di creare opere che siano legate al soprannaturale e allo spirituale.

La tecnica dell'incisione. Relief etching

Blake da vero artista-genio del periodo prova ad innovare l'arte anche dal punto di vista tecnico non solo ideologico. Così nel 1788 inventa una nuova forma di incisione che viene chiamata "relief etching", una particolare incisione a rilievo. Questa gli permette di stampare a colori e di combinare i testi e le immagini. Ancora oggi l'esatto metodo di Blake rimane un mistero. Però si sa che lo utilizzava spesso, soprattutto da quando inizia ad avere una propria attività editoriale di stampatore.

Blake utilizza questa tecnica per creare una serie di lavori visionari, libri in particolare. In queste opere i temi principali sono quelli morali e politici del tempo quindi la tratta degli schiavi, la rivoluzione sociale e culturale e la libertà sessuale. All'interno di queste opere Blake utilizza simboli e segni con significati precisi che allora purtroppo però non vengono né capiti nè apprezzati.

William Blake e le sue opere

William Blake e le sue opere. Blake è anche un poeta e scrittore, una capacità che unita a quella del realizzare incisioni, disegni e acquerelli gli permette di raccontare la sua visione della società e il disgusto che prova verso le ingiustizie sociali del periodo.

Le opere di Blake hanno spesso riferimenti alla Bibbia, a Shakespeare e alla poesia di Milton. Questo perché molte delle sue serie di acquerelli ad esempio sono stati realizzati su commissione. Blake per gran parte della sua vita ha lavorato in questo modo. Era libero di creare ciò che desiderava senza troppi limiti. E al tempo stesso poteva sostenersi economicamente.

Uno dei suoi più importanti mecenate è stato Thomas Butt, un funzionario dello stato che lo ha supportato per anni arrivando a possedere una collezione di quasi 200 lavori di Blake.

Un altro forte sostenitore è stato il poeta William Hayley che lo ha perfino accolto nella sua casa nel Sussex, ma con il quale l'amicizia si è completamente interrotta a causa di un litigio di Blake con un soldato che lo ha portato in tribunale. In questa occasione Hayley lo ha difeso ma da questo momento si sono interrotti i rapporti. Tutto questo lo porta a un periodo meno felice della sua vita da artista.

La mostra del 1809 e il ritorno

Con la sua più importante mostra del 1809 Blake vuole spiegare al mondo dell'arte inglese il suo punto di vista e scrive così il catalogo, che si rivela però un vero disastro. Le sue opere non vengono accettate e addirittura ridicolizzate. Così decide di non esporre per molti anni.

Blake è un visionario. Le sue immagini sono così ricche di simboli e i suoi temi sono totalmente legati al Romanticismo. Preferisce la creatività alla ragione, la libertà alla repressione, il mantenere la propria individualità all'essere conforme alla moda del periodo. Le figure umane nelle sue opere sono spesso rappresentate con espressioni irreali, corpi muscolosi e in posizioni complesse.

Dopo alcuni anni all'ombra Blake torna ad esporre e creare grandi capolavori negli ultimi dieci anni della sua vita. Questo grazie all'amicizia con un giovane artista John Linnell, per il quale realizza due serie di acquerelli che rimarranno nella storia: Gerusalemme e la Divina Commedia. E proprio il fatto che sia diventato un modello ideale per i giovani artisti degli inizi dell'Ottocento lo ha reso l'artista romantico inglese che conosciamo e amiamo oggi.

Acquista su Amazon
Questo sito contiene link di affiliazione ai prodotti. Potrei ricevere una commissione per gli acquisti effettuati tramite questi link. Questo sito contiene link di affiliazione ai prodotti. Potrei ricevere una commissione per gli acquisti effettuati tramite questi link.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
William Blake e le sue opere | Chi è il protagonista del Romanticismo inglese? - Art&theCities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
William Blake e le sue opere. Il post di oggi è dedicato a uno degli artisti inglesi che ha fatto la storia del Romanticismo in arte e poesia alla fine del Settecento: William Blake.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
William Blake | Meet 500 Years of British Art

# data[].attributes.body
poems set in cemeteries, ruins, wild landscapes. Edward Young "Night thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality" ca 1742, Thomas Gray "Elegy written in a Country Churchyard" 1751 --> admired by Ugo Foscolo whose "Dei sepolcri" was explicitly inspired by Gray.

# data[].attributes.body
James Macpherson "Fragments of Ancient Poetry" 1760, presents translations of epic poems written by a legendary bard called Ossian (3rd century)--> characterised by melancholy, paganism, heroism, force of a wild, gloomy Nature -- > huge success all around Europe

# data[].attributes.body
- exaltation of nature vs civilisation
- exaltation of simple, primitive life vs progress
- interest in social problems, the life of poors...
- rediscovery of Middle Ages, charming and mysterious
- interest in folklore: the traditional stories and culture of a group of people
- new ideas of beauty: exotic, strange, sublime
- fascination with death, graveyards and ruins

# data[].attributes.body
- complex cultural and literary phenomenon
- reaction vs the triumph of Reason of the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism
- in Italy --> strong political meaning
- importance of imagination and nature in the process of artistic creation
- interest in emotions, feelings, irrational and supernatural
- Romantic: marked by feeling, rather than rationalism

# data[].attributes.headline
1801 Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth)

# data[].attributes.subject
1801 Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth)

# data[].attributes.headline
The sublime: feeling provoked by the contemplation of something dangerous and beautiful, immense natural phenomena, i.e. a storm, an abyss, a glacier (E. Burke,1757)

# data[].attributes.subject
The sublime: feeling provoked by the contemplation of something dangerous and beautiful, immense natural phenomena, i.e. a storm, an abyss, a glacier (E. Burke,1757)

# data[].attributes.body
Friedrich, Wanderer above the sea of fog, 1818

# data[].attributes.headline
Art is pervaded by a profound sense of admiration for Nature in all its forms. Nature starts to be threatened by Industrial Revolution, the artists feel the need to return to Nature. Nature is seen as a real and living being. Art is not a reproduction of Nature, it is seen with imagination, and it is used to explore the mysteries of the universe and the inner world of the artists' self

# data[].attributes.subject
Art is pervaded by a profound sense of admiration for Nature in all its forms. Nature starts to be threatened by Industrial Revolution, the artists feel the need to return to Nature. Nature is seen as a real and living being. Art is not a reproduction of Nature, it is seen with imagination, and it is used to explore the mysteries of the universe and the inner world of the artists' self

# data[].attributes.headline
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - technological innovations - growing demand and cheaper products - need for coal - industrialised North and Midlands - mushroom towns - new work patterns, regulated by machines - exploitation of women and children 

# data[].attributes.subject
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - technological innovations - growing demand and cheaper products - need for coal - industrialised North and Midlands - mushroom towns - new work patterns, regulated by machines - exploitation of women and children 

# data[].attributes.headline
7 William IV (1830-1837) Great Reform Act 1832: voting rights granted to all MALE members of middle class, Slavery Abolition Act and Factory Act 1833

# data[].attributes.subject
7 William IV (1830-1837) Great Reform Act 1832: voting rights granted to all MALE members of middle class, Slavery Abolition Act and Factory Act 1833

# data[].attributes.headline
5 - 1789 Revolution Française. 1793 Wars vs Napoleon, 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, 1815 Waterloo

# data[].attributes.subject
5 - 1789 Revolution Française. 1793 Wars vs Napoleon, 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, 1815 Waterloo

# data[].attributes.headline
3 The American Revolution--> No taxation without representation. G III introduced taxes on corn, paper, tea... American colonies protested, but tax on imported tea remained. 1773 Boston Tea Party. 1775 War of Independence. 1776 The Declaration of Independence. 1783 Treaty of Versailles 

# data[].attributes.subject
3 The American Revolution--> No taxation without representation. G III introduced taxes on corn, paper, tea... American colonies protested, but tax on imported tea remained. 1773 Boston Tea Party. 1775 War of Independence. 1776 The Declaration of Independence. 1783 Treaty of Versailles 

# data[].attributes.headline
4 The Madness of King George, 1994 film based on a play by Alan Bennett

# data[].attributes.subject
4 The Madness of King George, 1994 film based on a play by Alan Bennett

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Madness of King George - The Prince of Wales' ruse

# data[].attributes.headline
6 Regency (1811-1820), George IV (1820-1830) --> riots in the cities, Luddites, authorities repressed revolts and protests, 1819 The Peterloo massacre

# data[].attributes.subject
6 Regency (1811-1820), George IV (1820-1830) --> riots in the cities, Luddites, authorities repressed revolts and protests, 1819 The Peterloo massacre

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What was the Peterloo Massacre? | 6 Minute History

# data[].attributes.headline
2 - 1760 George III (1760-1820) becomes king, reigns for 60 years, the 1st Hanoverian king to be born in England and spoke English as his 1st language

# data[].attributes.subject
2 - 1760 George III (1760-1820) becomes king, reigns for 60 years, the 1st Hanoverian king to be born in England and spoke English as his 1st language

# data[].attributes.headline
1 We have left the so-called Age of Reason (1660-1760)

# data[].attributes.subject
1 We have left the so-called Age of Reason (1660-1760)