August 31, 2021: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Blake The Blossom 1.jpg|thumb]] | [[File:Blake The Blossom 1.jpg|thumb]] | ||
{{Center|{{Large|The Blossom}}{{refn|From ''[[w:Songs of Innocence and of Experience#Songs of Innocence|Songs of Innocence]]'', 1789. | {{Center|{{Large|The Blossom}}{{refn|From ''[[w:Songs of Innocence and of Experience#Songs of Innocence|Songs of Innocence]]'', 1789. This is a poem of harmony, the child speaker, likely a girl here, brings nature to her heart—birds, plants and humans ({{harvnb|Tomlinson|1987|p=33}}). Compare this poem to its ''contrary'', the “[[The Sick Rose]]” from ''Songs of Experience''. Unlike in its contrary poem, the blossom here is in the wild, free of the confines that humans would impose upon it.<br />{{sp}}See also the introductory note on “[[The Lamb]]” for more background into Blake’s poetic composition and philosophy.}}<br /> | ||
By: [[w:William Blake|William Blake]] ([[w:The Blossom|1789]])}} | By: [[w:William Blake|William Blake]] ([[w:The Blossom|1789]])}} | ||
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Sees you, swift as arrow, | Sees you, swift as arrow, | ||
Seek your cradle narrow, {{ln|5}} | Seek your cradle narrow, {{ln|5}} | ||
Near my bosom. | Near my bosom.{{refn|This phrase is repeated and suggests that the child speaker of the poem is a girl ({{harvnb|Tomlinson|1987|p=33}}). ''Bosom'', too, suggests near her heart, where the poetic intuition is strong.}} | ||
Pretty, pretty robin! | Pretty, pretty robin! | ||
Under leaves so green | Under leaves so green | ||
A happy blossom | A happy blossom | ||
Hears you sobbing, sobbing, {{ln|10}} | Hears you sobbing, sobbing,{{refn|''Sobbing'' is unlikely sadness, but an overflow or an abundance of joy, like in ''weeps with joy''.}} {{ln|10}} | ||
Pretty, pretty robin, | Pretty, pretty robin, | ||
Near my bosom. | Near my bosom. | ||
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===Notes & Commentary=== | ====Notes & Commentary==== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
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[[Category: | [[Category:William Blake]] | ||
[[Category:Annotated]] | [[Category:Annotated]] | ||
Latest revision as of 17:06, 28 May 2022
Notes & Commentary
- ↑ From Songs of Innocence, 1789. This is a poem of harmony, the child speaker, likely a girl here, brings nature to her heart—birds, plants and humans (Tomlinson 1987, p. 33). Compare this poem to its contrary, the “The Sick Rose” from Songs of Experience. Unlike in its contrary poem, the blossom here is in the wild, free of the confines that humans would impose upon it.
See also the introductory note on “The Lamb” for more background into Blake’s poetic composition and philosophy. - ↑ This phrase is repeated and suggests that the child speaker of the poem is a girl (Tomlinson 1987, p. 33). Bosom, too, suggests near her heart, where the poetic intuition is strong.
- ↑ Sobbing is unlikely sadness, but an overflow or an abundance of joy, like in weeps with joy.
Bibliography
- Ackroyd, Peter (1995). Blake: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books.
- Battenhouse, Henry M. (1958). English Romantic Writers. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
- Bloom, Harold (2003). William Blake. Bloom’s Major Poets. New York: Chelsea House.
- Frye, Northrup (1947). Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Gardner, Stanley (1969). Blake. Literary Critiques. New York: Arco.
- Green, Martin Burgess (1972). Cities of Light and Sons of Morning. Boston: Little, Brown.
- Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. (2018). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Major Authors. 2 (Tenth ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
- Makdisi, Saree (2003). "The Political Aesthetic of Blake's Images". In Eaves, Morris. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. pp. 110–132.
- — (2015). Reading William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Paulin, Tom (March 3, 2007). "The Invisible Worm". Guardian. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- Thompson, E. P. (1993). Witness Against the Beast. New York: The New Press.
- Tomlinson, Alan (1987). Song of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake. MacMillan Master Guides. London: MacMillan Education.
- Wolfson, Susan J. (2003). "Blake's Language in Poetic Form". In Eaves, Morris. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. pp. 63–83.
Links and Web Resources
- Blake at the Internet Archive.
- Blake’s Notebook at the British Museum.
- William Blake Study Questions
