Was Blake mad or one of the sanest people of his time? Or is it better to think of him rather as a well-read, astute Cockney visionary? In this new biographical study John Beer weighs the evidence, including new discoveries about his religious upbringing, and elucidates his best writings in an attempt to show why they still appeal to us two centuries after the urgency of his prophetic message was first delivered to a bemused readership. Covering Blake's early career, his major works (such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience) and his work as a visual artists, this new study will be a must for all students, scholars and general enthusiasts of Blake.
Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2006
'Professor John Beer's new book combines illuminating and fresh discussions of Blake's life and work with astute commentary on the visual materials. Tracing Blake's religious background from early childhood onwards, Beer presents a clear and highly readable account of the spiritual richness and complexity of his mature poetry. We also learn a lot about the world of fellow-artists, patrons and publishers in which Blake moved, including surprising glimpses of the visionary poet's forthright business dealings. Towards the end of the book Beer musters a moving series of contemporaries' impressions of Blake, some of which will be new to readers.' - Professor Deirdre Coleman, University of Sydney, Australia
'A continual source of stimulus...Beer conveys readable information about Blake's life, retelling some famous and less well-known anecdotes with a quiet power...he carries his immense and up-to-date scholarship lightly.. a fine book.' - Times Literary Supplement
'...Beer shows himself to be among the most astute readers of Blake's poetry...Part of a biographer's task is to get the reader to know his or her subject as a person and not merely as a poet or an artist or an historical figure. This John Beer had done admirably.' - Morton D. Paley, The Wordsworth Circle
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Preface
Rescuing the Human Spirit
Traces of Tradition?
Through Satire to Innocence
Love, Marriage and Sexual Lore
Finding a Voice for Experience
The Challenge of Energy
Thinking Allegorically, Imagining Symbolically
'Vala' and the Fate of Narrative
'A Slumber on the Banks of the Ocean'
Fragmentary Modes of Epic
Years of Resentment, Hints of Paradox
A Persisting Visionary
Prophetic Afterlife
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
JOHN BEER is well known for his work on English Romantic literature. He has lectured in India and the USA as well as at Manchester and Cambridge, where he is now Emeritus Professor of English Literature and Fellow of Peterhouse. His books include Coleridge the Visionary, Coleridge's Poetic Intelligence, Blake's Humanism, Blake's Visionary Universe, Wordsworth and the Human Heart, Wordsworth in Time, Questioning Romanticism (ed.), Romantic Consciousness: Blake to Mary Shelley Post-Romantic Consciousness: Dickens to Sylvia Plath and Romantic Influences.
Description
Was Blake mad or one of the sanest people of his time? Or is it better to think of him rather as a well-read, astute Cockney visionary? In this new biographical study John Beer weighs the evidence, including new discoveries about his religious upbringing, and elucidates his best writings in an attempt to show why they still appeal to us two centuries after the urgency of his prophetic message was first delivered to a bemused readership. Covering Blake's early career, his major works (such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience) and his work as a visual artists, this new study will be a must for all students, scholars and general enthusiasts of Blake.
Reviews
Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2006
'Professor John Beer's new book combines illuminating and fresh discussions of Blake's life and work with astute commentary on the visual materials. Tracing Blake's religious background from early childhood onwards, Beer presents a clear and highly readable account of the spiritual richness and complexity of his mature poetry. We also learn a lot about the world of fellow-artists, patrons and publishers in which Blake moved, including surprising glimpses of the visionary poet's forthright business dealings. Towards the end of the book Beer musters a moving series of contemporaries' impressions of Blake, some of which will be new to readers.' - Professor Deirdre Coleman, University of Sydney, Australia
'A continual source of stimulus...Beer conveys readable information about Blake's life, retelling some famous and less well-known anecdotes with a quiet power...he carries his immense and up-to-date scholarship lightly.. a fine book.' - Times Literary Supplement
'...Beer shows himself to be among the most astute readers of Blake's poetry...Part of a biographer's task is to get the reader to know his or her subject as a person and not merely as a poet or an artist or an historical figure. This John Beer had done admirably.' - Morton D. Paley, The Wordsworth Circle
Contents
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Preface
Rescuing the Human Spirit
Traces of Tradition?
Through Satire to Innocence
Love, Marriage and Sexual Lore
Finding a Voice for Experience
The Challenge of Energy
Thinking Allegorically, Imagining Symbolically
'Vala' and the Fate of Narrative
'A Slumber on the Banks of the Ocean'
Fragmentary Modes of Epic
Years of Resentment, Hints of Paradox
A Persisting Visionary
Prophetic Afterlife
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Authors
JOHN BEER is well known for his work on English Romantic literature. He has lectured in India and the USA as well as at Manchester and Cambridge, where he is now Emeritus Professor of English Literature and Fellow of Peterhouse. His books include Coleridge the Visionary, Coleridge's Poetic Intelligence, Blake's Humanism, Blake's Visionary Universe, Wordsworth and the Human Heart, Wordsworth in Time, Questioning Romanticism (ed.), Romantic Consciousness: Blake to Mary Shelley Post-Romantic Consciousness: Dickens to Sylvia Plath and Romantic Influences.
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