To see a World in a grain of sand, /And a Heaven in a wild flower, /Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, /And Eternity in an hour.
He who bends to himself a Joy/Doth the winged life destroy; /But he who kisses the Joy as it flies /Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.
I must Create a System, or be enslaved by another Man’s; /I will not Reason and Compare; my business is to Create.
Love seeketh not itself to please, /Nor for itself have any care, /But for another gives its ease, /And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.
Without contraries is no progression.
Energy is eternal delight!
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
Man’s Desires are limited by his Perceptions; none can desire what he has not perceived.
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the Night.
I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.
Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradictions.
Exuberance is energy.
Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.
Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.
The imagination is not a state; it is the human existence itself.
Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.
How can a bird that is born for joy/Sit in a cage and sing?
I will not reason and compare, my business is to create.
The eye altering, alters all.
We are led to Believe a Lie When we see not Thro the Eye
We become what we behold.
A robin redbreast in a cage/Puts all of heaven in a rage.
The nakedness of woman is a work of God.
Each man is haunted until his humanity awakens.
I know that this world is a world of Imagination and Vision.
Recommended Relevant Timeless Poems
Songs of Innocence
Introduction
The Ecchoing Green
The Little Black Boy
*The Chimney Sweeper
The Little Boy Lost
The Divine Image
Nurse’s Song
Songs of Experience
*The Clod and the Pebble
The Little Girl Lost
The Little Girl Found
The Chimney Sweeper
Nurses Song
*The Sick Rose
*The Tyger
The Garden of Love
*London
*A Poison Tree
……………
poem/hymn: “And did those feet in ancient time” from Preface, Milton
A unique, original poet-artist for sure. Kultur has done many strong videos on famous artists and this one does a nice job outlining and explaining Blake’s life and achievements.
He started having visions when he was young, which continued into adulthood and inspired his best work. He was truly one-of-a-kind combining engraving, watercolors, and poetry in his own self-published illuminated works. Despite having only one modest, loyal patron, Blake cobbled a career, with the help of his devoted wife, during the late 1700s-early 1800s. He is, unquestionably, the first significant artist of English Romanticism.
The video shows many of his works from beginning to end with comments and opinions by English art critic-Blake fans. They all comment on his apprenticeship, his departure from classicism, his Gothic influences, his unique swirly style (shades of van Gogh and Emily Carr), and his own strange personal (religious) mythos. They emphasize his imaginary powers, his unconventionality, and integrity in not compromising or selling out.
Simply put, there has never been anyone who created poetry and art like William Blake. He is a true Master as this 50 minute documentary argues successfully.
Other artists in the English Masters series include: Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner, and Constable. Highly recommended.