Upon going to a place called the Garden of Love, the speaker sees something that he or she has never seen before. A new chapel has been built in the middle of the garden, precisely where the speaker used to play on the grass.
Inspecting the chapel, the speaker sees that the gates are closed. Over the door, a forbidding message reads "Thou shalt...More
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".
Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the...More
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".
Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic". Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions. Though later he rejected many of these political beliefs, he maintained an amiable relationship with the political activist Thomas Paine; he was also influenced by thinkers such as Emanuel Swedenborg. Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar William Michael Rossetti characterised him as a "glorious luminary", and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors".
Book Summary
Upon going to a place called the Garden of Love, the speaker sees something that he or she has never seen before. A new chapel has been built in the middle of the garden, precisely where the speaker used to play on the grass.
Inspecting the chapel, the speaker sees that the gates are closed. Over the door, a forbidding message reads "Thou shalt not." The speaker then looks back over the garden, which used to be full of beautiful flowers.
Now, though, the garden is full of graves. Where the flowers used to grow, the speaker now finds only gravestones. The speaker then notices that the chapel's priests, who are dressed in black garments, are walking around the garden. The speaker says these priests are using thorny branches to hold back his or her "joys and desires."
William Blake
