Blake wrote at a time which was seminal for thinkers of the nineteenth century, and BLAKE/PROPHET AGAINST EMPIRE by David V. Erdman attempts to put the views of Blake into his social and economic setting. The basic contrast between Eros and Thanatos, familiar to us from the late writings of Freud, "a brilliance now recognized by critics who speak of Blake as having anticipated `the whole of Freud's teaching' or Jung's charting of `psychic patterns,' " (p. 238), actually date back to the ancient Greek poet Empedocles, on whom Nietzsche lectured as a young college professor. "The life of sexuality is the best, the noblest, the greatest opposition against the drive for divisions. This is demonstrated most clearly in cooperation between the conflicting social classes for the sake of production. That which belongs together is torn apart at some point and desires to be together once again with itself. Love (philia) has the will to overcome the rule of strife: [Empedocles] calls her Philotes, Affection, Cyprus, Aphrodite, and Harmonia (. . .). Innermost to this drive is the search for equality: with inequality for everyone, Aversion arises; with equality for all, want. Nietzsche, THE PRE-PLATONIC PHILOSOPHERS (translated by Greg Whitlock, pp. 114-5).

This book makes the point very clearly with respect to America. "To say that she wants to be loved, not raped, is to say, economically, that she wants to be cultivated by free men, not slaves or slave-drivers; for joy not for profit." (p. 210). "For `counting gold' is not abundant living; and grasping colonies and shedding blood whether in the name of royal dignity or in the name of commerce is not living at all, but killing." (p. 209). During the terror following the French Revolution, Blake was engraving from sketches showing "conditions of human servitude in the South American colony of Dutch Guiana during some early slave revolts" (p. 213) for a book by Captain J.G. Stedman on the years 1772 to 1777, but the book was not published until 1796. "We know he was working on them during the production of his `Visions of the Daughters of Albion' because he turned in most of the plates in batches dated December 1, 1792, and December 2, 1793." Stedman "was in love with a beautiful fifteen-year-old slave, Joanna," (p. 215) and married her, "But he was unable to purchase her freedom, . . . The captain's own Joanna, to prove the equality of her `soul' to `that of an European,' insisted on enduring the condition of slavery until she could purchase freedom with her own labor." (p. 215).

Some details in this book are likely to make free people glad we have escaped so much, but most might fret that we are not actually being offered peace. "In William Blake's Paradise the intellectual lions and lambs will not actually lie down together but will roar and bleat at each other in an energetic comradeship ranging over all topics which the Human Imagination can conceive." (p. 449).

Contained in this collection are most if not all of Blake's most essential works,including "The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell";the two songs,"Auguries Of Innocence"; etc..In the creative fertility of this great poet came some of the greatest lines ever written in the English language,or any language for that matter.His conjuring of visions perhaps is the first written document of modern poetry,heralding what is to come.

Finally, a crisp, clean reproduction of Songs of Innocense and Songs of Experience for all the Blake fans with high school incomes! These books are small--the size of the originals, easy to manage (although a magnifying glass may come in handy for some of the finer figures like the man in the "I" of Innocense!). They consist of reproductions of the original plates and normal typeset lyrics for each poem in the back.

While the facsimiles for Innocense are taken from an earlier copy and are fairly pale, with limited coloring, those for Experience are bold and vivid. It's nice to have both books simply to compare, in the poems that Blake moved to Experience, how his style evolved. This reproduction of "A Poison Tree" is my favorite of any I've seen.

At this price, these two books are a Blakey's dream come true.

Seer, mystic, prophet, artist, genius-he was visionary poet William Blake. And Kate, a grocer's daughter, adored him. She loved Blake enough to become his wife. She loved Blake enough to follow him into poverty, into madness, into hell . . .

And then into Time.

Because all of William Blake's angels and monsters, from dread Urizen to the immortal Zoas, were real. Beings of unimaginable power, power that they offered to Britain's finest minds . . . and as a joke, to poor dowdy Kate.

But when the power grows evil, when horror engulfs the world and deadly terrors clasp the man she loves, then poor dowdy Mrs. Blake challenges the gods to rage through time-a tyger burning bright, in the forests of the night!

A thrilling science fiction novel from the author of The Ecolog and Then Beggars Could Ride.

It is amazing to me how many winners of the Newberry Medal are books that very kids can really appreciate. Today's case in point is "A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers" by Nancy Willard, with charming illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen. Blake, of course, was an English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary mystic whose hand-illustrated series of lyrical and epic poems forms one of the most strikingly original bodies of work in Western literature. Ignored in his own day, Blake is now considered one of the central figures of the Romantic period.

So, of course, he makes the perfect choice of a real person to host a fictional inn that is staffed by two mighty dragons that brew and bake, two angels that wash and shake the featherbeds, and a rabbit who shows visitors to their room. You will also see the famous creature of "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright" fame. Among the guests staying at William Blake's Inn during our little visit are the Man in the Marmalade Hat, the King of cats, and two sunflowers demanding a room with a view. While writing her poems for this volume, Willard built a six-foot model of the inn, decorating it with prints of Blake's paintings (yes, my guess is that would provide the requisite inspiration).

Ironically, this book will appeal most to those who know much or nothing about William Blake. My guess is that young readers of this book will one day stumble across mention of the "real" William Blake. I can imagine they might check out his work and I wonder what they will think of him having read this imaginative little book. What they might recall is this simple little rhyme:

Now I lay me down to sleep
with bear and rabbit, bird and sheep.
If I should dream before I wake
may I dream of William Blake

It is amazing to me how many winners of the Newberry Medal are books that very kids can really appreciate. Today's case in point is "A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers" by Nancy Willard, with charming illustrations by Alice and Martin Provensen. Blake, of course, was an English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary mystic whose hand-illustrated series of lyrical and epic poems forms one of the most strikingly original bodies of work in Western literature. Ignored in his own day, Blake is now considered one of the central figures of the Romantic period.

So, of course, he makes the perfect choice of a real person to host a fictional inn that is staffed by two mighty dragons that brew and bake, two angels that wash and shake the featherbeds, and a rabbit who shows visitors to their room. You will also see the famous creature of "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright" fame. Among the guests staying at William Blake's Inn during our little visit are the Man in the Marmalade Hat, the King of cats, and two sunflowers demanding a room with a view. While writing her poems for this volume, Willard built a six-foot model of the inn, decorating it with prints of Blake's paintings (yes, my guess is that would provide the requisite inspiration).

Ironically, this book will appeal most to those who know much or nothing about William Blake. My guess is that young readers of this book will one day stumble across mention of the "real" William Blake. I can imagine they might check out his work and I wonder what they will think of him having read this imaginative little book. What they might recall is this simple little rhyme:

Now I lay me down to sleep
with bear and rabbit, bird and sheep.
If I should dream before I wake
may I dream of William Blake

The archetypal 'Californian' version of Blake as prophet of the groovy, alternative and spiritually tuned-in. It begins with the author's vision of a world in a grain of sand, after dropping acid. Having achieved this chemical insight into the truth of Blake's vision, Klonsky proceeds to illuminate the Great Seer's visions from the post-hippie perspective.Good fun for Blake fans - especially those of the paintings. Big bright reproductions and wild but lively interpretations.

i think it is reeally pretty. blake was a dork, and probably had nofriends like the people reading this right now.

William Blake is one of the giants of poetry. He is often overlooked because of the obliqueness of many of his poems. But this affordable (read: cheap) collection of poems is well worth the price of admission. Most of Blakes most famous and well loved poems are included in this volume. Most of us had to read at least a couple of these poems in school. The Tyger still stands as one of the great poems of the English language. The Fly, The Lamb, Children of a Future Age, London and Ah, Sunflower are all included here. These are some of the most beautiful poems ever written. Even if you struggle to understand the meaning, the sheer beauty and music of the verses can still carry you away. Anyone interested in poetry needs to read these poems. It is among the best ever written.

In order to understand Blake's vision, it's helpful to know as much as possible about the social and historical context in which he was writing, and about the kinds of attitudes and social conditions he was addressing. Without that context, readers are unlikely to appreciate Blake as fully as he deserves to be appreciated. Such readers may write uninformed and ignorant reviews in this column. Those who understand the context in which Blake was writing are likely to have a much deeper appreciation of Blake's poetic beauty and sharp social conscience.

William Blake's prophetic poems, "America" and "Europe" were both written almost twenty years after the American Revolution began, and about five years or so after the start of the French Revolution in the late 1700's. Both poems exhibit Blake's intense engagement with the socio-political atmosphere of his time. Both address contemporary figures: King George III of England, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and so on. Over this layer of response to history, Blake mythologizes the spirits of the age with his own pantheon of fantastic, complicated personalities, like Orc, the fiery spirit of revolution, and his primary opponent, Urizen, the spirit of rationality, order, and law.

"America" deals with the American Revolution in retrospect, and meanwhile Blake is thinking about recent developments in France in the early 1790's. Blake questions the persistence of African slavery, both in America and in the British slave trade (note the reference to Bristol towards the end). He also looks critically at the pervasive and often perverted influence in the British Empire of law, both religious and political. "Europe" looks at the after effects of the American Revolution, and how the spirit of rebellion, spreading already in "America" to Ireland and Scotland, advances through Europe, especially to France. "Europe" tries to explain the history of conflict in the world since the time of Christ. "Europe" is much more abstracted from human history than "America," depending more on the conflicts between Blake's mythical personages.

This edition of "America" and "Europe" published by Dover is of a decent quality. The prints of Blake's illustrations are in full color, and page-sized to allow for close perusal of his intricate designs. The copies of the poems seem to have been chosen for the least background color contrast, making Blake's script readable. However, there are more brilliantly colored versions of both than we get in this edition. The poems themselves are included in plain text following the illustrated versions. Each poem is prefixed by a moderately helpful explanation, though too simplistic in both cases - many of the plate descriptions do not even mention all the figures or objects in each plate, which can detract from the fullest enjoyment of the Blake novice. On the whole, the poetry will always be phenomenal - however, in this Dover edition, the presentation leaves something to be desired.

I truly enjoyed this concise book: it served as a great introduction to issues of language in Shakespearean text. It is insightful and well written, but I cannot compare it to other texts on the same specific subject. I did find it to be much more accessible than many other linguistic texts, however. If anything, I wish the book were of greater length and depth. Wonderful for upper-level students of Shakespeare and/or Elizabethan subject matter. I'm ordering a copy to keep!