William Blake Research Paper

The topic that brought me the most interest would have to be William Blake. Now, he is known as a well-known poet, but he was not always famous for his works. William was a poet during the Romantic period/ movement that lasted from 1798-1870 (lecture). The romantic period/ movement was not the countries of the romance languages, but mostly seen in England and Germany (romanticism). The romantic period was also known as the “age of revolutions”, and this revolutionary energy was the core of Romantics (Romanticism). The romantics wanted to transform the theory and practice of poetry and the way people perceived the world. To the romantics, the imagination was the “supreme faculty of the mind”, and it was also the “shaping” or creative power

He did not have any formal schooling but instead was an apprentice for printmaking (Bloom 1). In 1782 he married his first and only wife Catherine Boucher (Bloom 1). Later in life he opened his own printseller’s shop. In 1789 Songs of Innocence was engraved by himself. In 1795, he combined Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Bloom 1). He also created his very own mythology. Throughout his life, William moved a total of three times. The last time he moved, was because he committed an act of treason against the king (Bloom2). It was after this act that he moved back to London. He lived the remainder of his life living in poverty (Bloom 2). The little money he did have coming in, was from commissions from some of his art (Bloom2). William’s life ended on August 12, 1827 (Bloom2). The topic of William Blake’s life was of interest to me because unlike most of the poets and writers we have learned about, he did not come from money and he basically started and ended his career in poverty. This could possible mean that he has more of himself in his writings because he knows what it feels like to be at his lowest

By asking this question it will allow me to find out what some of the contributing factors are for his poems, how much of a meaning his poems have to him, and how he interprets the world he sees. Another question I will ask is if any of his poems came from a real life experience that he had or if they were experiences from one of his peers? The last question I will ask, is what made him want to write Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, and how those two are related. This research is relevant to my understanding of the culture and topic because his writings resemble human nature. His work, Songs of Innocence is based on a point of view of a child and things they went through during that time. It also has the point of view of adults, although it isn’t as much of a point of view like children have. The titles of both works basically tell you that they are examples of people’s lives and the things they are going and have been going through. It gives readers a chance to look into the other person’s shoes and in a way see and feel what the characters see and