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Studied by 61 peopleWilliam Blake Romanticism
18th century thinker
William Blake wrote chariots of fire, it was a poem but has been turned into an anthem
One of the guardians of the island
The most important influence in transforming national consciences
Despised and rejected by others due to his different visions
Paintings; sex, religion, politics and the condition of mankind
Saw angels in a tree on Pekham Rye, his visions were rooted in God and Divine
Blake isolated himself from everyone, allowing him to focus on just his paintings and visions
Had visions of someone telling him to paint. His visions told him what to do
Was born in So Ho 1757. His family was religious but they hated the church
Would usually turn to the bible for advice
Dissenters = Blakes Family. Disapproved the religious intuitions
For Blake the divine humanity is the divine imagination (the name he gave to Jesus)
Blake speaks more of sleep and awakening then sin and redemption
Loved the simplicity and purity of gothic art and architecture
Albian = original state of England/ spiritual state of England
Blake said the industrial upcoming was everything wrong with the world. This included any logical progression, specifically Sir Isaac Newton. hated mathematics
Said Isaac Newton was Cold Science and represents the falsehood of the world
Isaac Newton portrait shows the world and universe around him yet he is too focused on the dead diagram of math's beneath him
Blake saw the universe as literally alive and is summed up in simply words, that everything is holy. Said science claimed nothing was living and nothing was holy which he believed to be wrong
Blakes view of the world was visionary but also precise. Said his art simply reflected what he saw
His hero was Michael Angelo and the line "the lover of the holy and heroic"
One of Blakes greatest works was the "songs of innocence and experience" (Book)
Sexuality was very open at the time of Blake
Blake was influenced by the moon, its watchful gaze over the earth