William Blake

"Songs of Experience" Introduction

Hear the voice of the Bard!

Who Present, Past, & Future, sees;

Whose ears have heard

The Holy Word

That walk'd among the ancient trees,

 

Calling the lapsed Soul

And weeping in the evening dew;

That might controll

The starry pole,

And fallen, fallen light renew!

"O Earth, O Earth, return!

"Arise from out the dewy grass;

"Night is worn,

"And the morn

"Rises from the slumberous mass.

"Turn away no more;

"Why wilt thou turn away?

"The starry floor,

"The wat'ry shore,

"Is giv'n thee till the break of day."

     -William Blake

     I've always liked poetry.  My mother used to find me outside composing ballads when I was six.  I've run across countless journals from my childhood filled with poetry of the kingdom, nature, and other random things.  

     One of my good friends from my last job, among whose company I enjoyed debating philosophical ideas and art tried to put the works of T.S. Elliot in my hands declaring that I would be an avid follower due to his pastoral poetry.  I didn't think I was a fan of the cantering English style in prose.  I've always been more attracted to abstract, modern, poetry, which typically dwells on a single idea and expresses itself through minimal amounts of words and leaves you reaching for a meaning at the end.  One of my favorite older authors who seems to tackle topics in this manner was the Father of Zionism, Bialik.  The Hebrew language lends itself to this style of poetry beautifully, as it is a pictoral language, and paints a more abstract picture, while typically holding several layers of meaning.  Perhaps that's why I enjoy reading the Old Testament so much as well. 

     When that familiar hankering for poetry rose up within me several weeks ago, I went out hunting for more poets whom I had never read before.  Of course I encountered a small dose of the classic English poets in elementary school, but I never really paid much attention to them before.  After spending hours in the poetry section dissatisfied with the available options I ran across a book a few days later drastically discounted, an anthology of Romantic English Poetry.  I decided to give it a chance and I'm rather taken aback by some of the poems by William Blake.  He was quite the free thinker of his age, on matters, political, societal, and ethical.  Blake's prose is much like that of the King James Version of his day, but it always surprises me when Blake looks past the physical shell of items, which I feel most romantic English poetry dwells in, and reaches for a deeper message, such as in this poem, "Songs of Experience."  This poem sounds rather mystical, which is rather rare for the English way of his day.  

     Something else that fascinates me about Blake, was his creative process.  He was actually a visual artist first and foremost.  All of his poems were created in conjunction with a painting.  Cool huh?   

     Anyway, I'd love to hear your views, likes, or dislikes on poetry.  What is it that fascinates you about poetry?  Do you have any more information on William Blake or what do you like his works?  Lemme know!