Blake / Art & Literature

[buchwald]

Good noon,

It seems that I, as many other people who are dealing with Blake at an English Literature seminar, have to make a presentation on Blake's Art and Literature. Yet, it is not so simple as it seems. I must make connections between his Art and Literary Works...:idea: Could somebody give me some suggestions about this theme?

Thanks,
Buchwald

[Jay]

Hello Buchwald.

I believe that Blake's connection between his art and literary work is pretty obvious since he illuminated his own books. An example (http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/images/songsie.b.p44-39.300.jpg)

I recommend The William Blake Archive (http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/indexworksnj.htm), they have lots of his illuminated writings (if not all of them). You'll soon notice that there's hardly a page in his writing that he wouldn't illuminate himself.

Hope this is enough of a suggestion, good luck with your presentation :)

PS: If you want, you could do some research about Blake's illuminations since it's still not known how he managed to do what he did with what he had (if that makes any sense :p). I know close to nothing about engraving but in my romanticism class it was pointed out that, for example, nobody knows how Blake managed to make his engravings look 3D (like the sphere in The First Book Of Urizen (http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/images/urizen.a.p11-17.300.jpg)). If you're not pressed for time, I believe you could find a lot of interesting information on the web.

[JCamilo]

Except that literature is a form of art, I really can not think any other conection :tongue:
The Symbolist movemment was heavily influenced by Blake's symbolism. Conections can work back and forth.