威廉·布莱克传记

威廉·布莱克

威廉·布莱克照片
  • 时间1757 - 1827
  • 的地方伦敦
  • 国家英格兰

诗人的传记

威廉·布莱克和他的作品在20世纪和本世纪受到了广泛的讨论和批评,然而在此之前,他几乎不为人知。1863年,亚历山大·吉尔克里斯特(Alexander Gilchrist)的传记《生活》(Life)使他首次为人所知,直到20世纪初,他才得到充分的赏识和认可。似乎他的艺术在18世纪末和19世纪初过于冒险和非传统,也许你甚至可以说他走在了那个时代的前面?不管怎样,今天他是浪漫主义文学中一个非常著名的人物,他的作品有各种各样的解释,众所周知,这需要一生的时间来确立。除了他的作品难以解读外,他作为一个人也引发了很多争论。亨利·克拉布·罗宾逊(Henry Crabb Robinson)是布莱克临终时的朋友和日记作家,他问了一个许多布莱克的学生至今仍无法给出确切答案的问题:“我该称他为艺术家还是天才——还是神秘主义者——还是疯子?”(卢卡斯,1998年第1页)1757年11月28日出生在伦敦的苏活区,他有一个脚踏实地、快乐的成长环境。虽然布莱克一直是一个博学多才的人,但他在十岁的时候就离开了学校,到亨利·帕尔斯绘画学院学习了五年。他小时候崇拜的艺术家包括拉斐尔、米开朗基罗、朱利奥、罗马诺和德勒。他12岁时开始写诗,1783年,他的朋友出钱出版了他的第一本诗集,书名为《诗性速写》,现在被视为18世纪诗界的一件大事。尽管他在诗人方面有明显的天赋,但他的正式职业是雕刻师,因为他负担不起画家的学徒费用,因此在1772年开始与雕刻师詹姆斯·巴西尔(James Basire)学徒。 After completing his apprenticeship six years later, he joined the Royal Academy of Art. At this point his art and engraving remained separate – he wrote and drew for pleasure and simply engraved to earn a living. In 1784 he opened his own shop and in the same year completed “Island in the Moon”, which ridiculed his contemporaries of the art and literature social circles he mixed with. Two years previous to this, he married Catherine Boucher. Now Blake was an established engraver, he began experimenting with printing techniques and it was not long before he compiled his first illuminated book, 'Songs of Innocence' in 1788. Blake wanted to take his poetry beyond being just words on a page and felt they needed to be illustrated to create his desired effect. Shortly after he completed 'The Book of Thel' and from 1790-3, 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell', which followed on from his significant Prophetic books. These books were a collection of writings on his philosophical ideas and although they have nothing to do with his poetry, it was a sign of his increasing awareness of the social injustices of his time, which led to the completion of his 'Songs of Experience' in 1794. One of Blake’s main influences was the society in which he lived. He lived during revolutionary times and witnessed the downfall of London during Britain’s war with republican France. His disgust with society grew as he matured and 'The Songs of Innocence and Experience' depict this transition. As well as having radical religious ideas for the time (he did not believe in “religion of nature or reason, but thought man’s nature was imaginative and mystical” (Lister 1968, p.27)), he also had radical political ideas due to the day-to-day poverty he was forced to witness. “Living near the end of a century, born in a period of imperialistic wars, coming to maturity during the American Revolution and to the full bloom of his genius during the French Revolution, aware of impending economic change and sick to the bone of ruling hypocrisy, he viewed the evnts of his own days as the fulfilment of prophecy…” (Hagstrum 1964, p. 97-98) Blake’s preoccupation with good and evil as well as his strong philosophical and religious beliefs remained throughout his life and he never stopped depicting them in his poetry and engravings. He died at the age of sixty-nine in 1827 and although the Blake family name died with him, his legacy as a fascinating, complex man of many artistic talents will no doubt remain strong well into this century. Other famous works include 'Europe', 'America', 'Visions of the Daughters of Albion' and 'The Book of Urizen'. Although Blake is not well known for being a specifically grotesque artist, it is his experiences and disgust with London society in the late eighteenth century that clearly emulates elements of the grotesque. As it would be impossible to discuss all of Blake’s works, this study will focus on 'Songs of Innocence and Experience', particularly 'Songs of Experience' to learn how he portrayed his views on society and how the grotesque falls into that.