Blake’s Work Through Taoism

In the 19th century, King Henry XIII was a devout Catholic making Catholicism the main religion in England. That was until he decided to break from the church to be able to divorce his wife and remarry. In doing so he made himself the supreme head of the Church of England and established Anglicanism as the official religion/church of England. William Blake is a non-conforming Christian, one can believe in a God and not follow official church doctrine, or in other words be non-orthodox. Blake was not popular at his time, and most of his work did not get the attention it receives now, but throughout his work, he displayed the hold of his faith close to him and how the Anglican church was wrong or misleading. Now, Blake is a renowned English poet and is most known for his challenging to interpret works that go against conventional notions of religion, in this case Christianity, while advocating for his idea of spiritual vision, or poetic genius. Blake shows a connection to Taoism, also spelled Daoism. Taoism can be traced back to ancient China during the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. Taoist philosophy emphasizes principles such as spontaneity, simplicity, harmony with nature, and the importance of inner peace. Philosophers named Laozi and Zhuangzi are credited with laying down the foundation of Taoist beliefs. William Blake’s literary works and artistic expressions throughout his work, such as “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”, “The Book of Urizen”, and other illuminated poems and artistic pictures, show a profound connection and his philosophical resonance to Taoist principles or ideas, with the themes of harmony, balance, and the connection of contraries.

-Jasmin Guerra

Self Annihilation and Salvation

Milton must “go down to self annihilation and eternal death” because that is the only way one can change and be worthy in the second coming. The impression I get from Plate 15, lines. 51-41is that self annihilation is not destroying yourself and dying, but freeing your self form your own “self”. The eternal death is not of your body or soul but of your ego. It seems Milton finds the body unimportant as part of the eternal death since “when a man dreams, he reflects not that his body sleeps, Else he would wake up.” drawing parallels to the idea that when facing the eternal death you are not focused on the death of your body but the death of evil and ego. The eternal death is the death of corruption and ego, and is described by Milton asks “”When will the Resurrection come; and deliver the sleeping body from corruptibility” only to later come to the conclusion that he will “Tarry no longer; for my soul lies at the gates of death.” I believe this realization that he must “tarry no longer” is the realization that salvation is not delivered by the resurrection but by ones own self annihilation. One has to give themselves salvation by participating in self-annihilation and ridding themselves of corruption, dying not in the literal sense but figuratively since you cannot be reborn without having died, and the death of your old corrupt self is eternal.

-Tanner Fleckenstein

Savior or Punisher?

I have chosen to analyze “A Little Boy Lost” from The Songs of Experience which has a contrary twin poem in The Songs of Innocence.  When reading this poem in The Songs of Innocence, it seems to tell a story of a little boy who was lost and looking for guidance.  There seems to be a religious undertone to this poem, which is confirmed in the following poem, “The Little Boy Found”.  Here, the little boy is saved by God who appeared like his father.  It is a common belief in the Christian religion that without God we are lost for he is our savior.  These connections are apparent when reading this poem in isolation.  “A Little Boy Lost” in The Songs of Experience tells a contrary story of a little boy who is questioning God and the Christian beliefs.  He questions how he is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and the possibility to think greater than God.  These questionings are overheard by the Priest and for this he was punished.  While analyzing this poem, it is evident that there were religious teachings that were being enforced on the child.  When they are disrupted or questioned, they are punished.  The Songs of Innocence shows a young child who reflects what they are taught about religion, which is why he is looking to be saved by God.  The Songs of Experience shows a child who has been influenced by his experience in society and life and because of this, is questioning everything he had previously been taught.  It is vital to read these two contrary poems together because they further inform us of the impact that experience can have on our innocence and beliefs.  The illustration plates also have many differences that reflect the feelings of the opposing poems.  In Songs of Innocence, the little boy is lost in the dark woods but can see an angelic light peeking through the trees.  In Songs of Experience, there are figures bent over on the floor surrounded by flames.  There is only one figure standing and can be assumed it is either the Priest or God as they have a brighter light shined on them.  There is a tone of punishment here instead of being saved.

-Katie Hiler

Songs of Innocence

Songs of Experience

The Contrary States: Shifting Perception

For next Thursday (2/8), students will analyze a poem from The Songs of Experience that has a “contrary” or negative twin poem in The Songs of Innocence.  How do these contrary poems/designs mutually inform, interrupt, or revise each other in a manner that is not apparent when these poems are read in isolation?

Alternatively, students can analyze a poem in The Songs of Experience that lacks a “contrary” in The Songs of Innocence.  Why are these non-contrarian poems significant in the context of the larger collection of songs?  How do these poems call into question Blake’s interpretive approach to opposition, negation, and dissonance?

Please focus on a pair of poems or one poem.  Categorize this post under “Experience, Earth, and Adulthood” and don’t forget to create specific and relevant tags.  All posts are due by 2:00pm next Thursday, 2/8. Please write your Full Name!!!

Reflective Essay: Ethics within English

Often times there is a  debate between discourses and whether or not they are valuable. Despite what the popular socially constructed beliefs are, I firmly believe that every discourse serves a purpose. Specifically, one discourse that has changed my perception of various aspects of education, social spheres, and cultures in English. Thus, has taught me more than I had previously known. I have learned that this discourse is diverse, critical, and often serves as a reflective mirror.

Furthermore, English branches out and it is not just discoursed specific, into other discourses like the sciences, art, writing, and so much more. For example, William Blake who has added to the varying perceptions varying within social, political, humanistic, and feministic ideologies. One of the most interesting aspects of English 190: William Blake is how diverse and multi-dimensional the subject is. Essentially what this course has demonstrated is how important it is to be critical of oneself is and what values can be found within our societies.

Therefore, all things must exist in order to obtain knowledge and empathy. Including, no one state can exist without one another. For instance, what Blake calls contrary states which can be applied in our own lives ranging from morality to culturally. In essence, there must be good and bad, as well as grey areas. Adhering to an institution hinders one’s ability to fully grasp the complexities within other forms of ideologies, since certain types are only taught. Blake asks us to be the Poetic Genius, to be a critical thinker and question and not just uphold what is taught. By thus, allowing ourselves to displace social constructs and institutions helps and directs the reader to see beyond their own realities and place themselves within other realities which allow for the growth of emotional intelligence and awareness. Therefore, the listeners, readers, the judicious spectators could acquire a knowledge which removes the from the stereotypical bubbles that often times encumber our societies. Humanity in its essence is not universal beings but varied in cultures, races, beliefs, and complexities. None of these realities can be effectively fair or questioned if they are not taken into account.

Therefore, literature does prove to be truthful and a discourse that provides knowledge that enforces ethical and moral concerns. That is not to say that literature is always truthful, the imaginative is after all unreal. All forms of literature in its vast in its varied mediums and therefore is our job to seek out realities into imaginative or realistic states. Thus, exposure leads to a better understanding of ourselves and multiple people. With all of this discussion in mind, humanities serve to question and make a change to our laws social, political, educational, or religious, that may misserve those who are not included.

Yet, Blake also infers us to question himself and his own ideas. Deconstructing the constructed by reconstructing what has been previously taught from varying forms. By applying this multi-dimensionally in English courses it also transcends into writing, social relations, etc. In addition, he calls forth to appreciate the aspect of life that allows for inclusivity. More or less, it asks us to question prison systems, socio-political ideologies, laws, marriage, ethicality, and our own perceptions.

Thus, being a poetic genius allows our voices to be not only in written forms but also surpass our technological era and reaching a multitude of platforms. In continuation, allow us to keep forth questioning our policies and society to those that continue to be disenfranchised, marginalized, to the Others.

• Karla Garcia

 

 

 

Disabling the Normal Body in William Blake’s Poetry And Art

In my paper, I argue that William Blake challenges the notion of the normal body by disabling the contraries of the disabled body and the normal body through the contrast of All Religions are One with Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Discourses on Art in order to advance the disability discourse during his time in the Age of Enlightenment. The disability discourse endeavors to demonstrate the universal human experience of disability, and to  eliminate the mainstream understanding of disability, which dehumanizes the disabled. The disabled body is both physical and mental disability.  I will examine the criticism that Blake received during his first and last art exhibition in 1809 to demonstrate his categorization into the disabled body by society. Afterwards, I will perform a close reading of both All Religions are One and Discourses on Art to demonstrate Blake’s position regarding the notion of disability during his time. Furthermore, I will examine Blake’s aesthetics in regards to the body and interpret his illustration, Laocoön through his perspective. In conclusion, I will examine contemporary literature on critical disability studies in order to illustrate Blake’s progressive perspective during his time.

– Hongxi Su

We N E E D Contraries

The following is the abstract for my research paper in-progress:

William Blake’s philosophy of progression through contraries seems like a counter-intuitive direction for the ever-growing world of humanity, yet it might be the solution to creating a more promising future, even if it means gathering inspiration from unconventional morality, afterlives, and overall logic. As such, Blake invites his readers to set aside reason, give into their limitless imaginations and utilize contraries not as boundaries to feasibility, but as new avenues to create and solve the world’s most challenging issues. This paper will explore the full potential of Blake’s contrarian philosophy that he conveys within his works The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Songs of Experience and Innocence, and Milton, a Poem, as well as the consequences of a world without a need for contraries by looking at the counterarguments of Blake’s own contrary, rival, and mentor Emanuel Swedenborg his philosophy of reconciling contraries. Specifically, this paper proposes that Blake’s fascination with contraries in his works reveals their essential purpose in creating a growing and thriving world that acknowledges and acts on its flaws as opposed to falling into a stagnant realm that blissfully ignores them. Additionally, this paper will also delve into the meaning of a marriage between Heaven and Hell, forms of modern self-annihilation, and how contraries will lead to Blake’s fourfold vision of the world.

–Jose Ramirez

Embracing Self-Annihilation

Near the end of Book II of his famed work Milton, William Blake shows his readers suggestive pictures of male figures participating in oral sex while also focusing heavily on the topic of “self-annihilation”. While the act itself does not self-annihilate through giving up one’s life, it serves its purpose by entering the realm of taboo and acknowledging that participants have self-annihilated themselves from the world of reason and into the world of the imagination where negation does not exist. The speaker, who is a staunch advocate for the return of the imagination and self annihilation, deems that “negation must be destroyed to redeem the contraries,” meaning that people should stop suppressing their desires that contradict the established society of reason (201). In this case, the poem calls for men to open up about their homoerotic desires even if it means self-annihilation in the form of social rejection from others, thus opening up the freedom to desire not just regular love with the opposite sex, but contrary love with the same sex as well. The pictures both depict the male figures receiving sex to have god-like symbols behind them, whether it is Los’s large sun or a halo, showing that even the most powerful of deities have desires that belong in the realm of controversial contraries. It can also represent the amount of power people hold when they can be confident with their sexuality and desires rather than hide it from the rest of the world.

 

–Jose Ramirez

Urizen weeps because he can’t bear to touch himself

Milton wants to celebrate self-love through the journey of sexual liberation, breaking away from the Urizen state of mind that “dares to mock with the aspersion of Madness/Cast on the Inspired, by the tame high finisher of paltry Blots” (202). The madness of course being the image offered through plate 47: two men–one enjoys the pleasure of another’s giving.

As we’ve discussed in class, the act of Self-Annihilation is no annihilation at all; it is meant to liberate the person in action–in this case through masturbation and/or sex with the member of the same sex. Therefore, in order for there to be a contrary state of mind, there ought to be the destruction of negations. In other words, you can’t know your true sexuality until you’ve experimented with it i.e., with yourself, others of same sex, and others.

So when Milton “come[s] in Self-annihilation & the grandeur of Inspiration”, he is reaching the orgasmic transcendence that is offered through the imagination of Los, by throwing away his filthy garments from Albion’s covering through reason (202). Then, and only then, can one stand at the entrance of the void outside of existence–and through the practice of imagination–see it as a womb: the birth of the Eternal Death of Albion.

–Daniel Lizaola Lopez

The Contrary States

For next Wednesday (2/7), students will analyze a poem from The Songs of Experience that has a “contrary” or negative twin poem in The Songs of Innocence.  How do these contrary poems/designs mutually inform, interrupt, or revise each other in a manner that is not apparent when these poems are read in isolation?

Alternatively, students can analyze a poem in The Songs of Experience that lacks a “contrary” in The Songs of Innocence.  Why are these non-contrarian poems significant in the context of the larger collection of songs?  How do these poems call into question Blake’s interpretive approach to opposition, negation, and dissonance?

Please focus on a pair of poems or one poem.  Categorize this post under “Experience, Earth, and Adulthood” and don’t forget to create specific and relevant tags.  All posts are due by 8:30am next Wednesday, 2/7.