Month: September 2019

William Blake in his writing describes how while walking around London, he hears many things deemed at negative in the society at the time. As he brings up crying infants, marriage quarrels, nagging prostitutes, and even chimney-sweepers, there is much more to what each person is doing which contributes to the idea of individualism during the enlightenment. “And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his priest and king,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.” from The Chimney Sweeper showcases the religious importance in the society at the time, because people were looking to religion for hope in times of hardship; it points to all the “misery” from all that is heard in the streets of London. All of Blake’s writing contributes to society in England at the time as a whole, although not perfect, makes up a society. We see some of the aspects of his society in ours as well in terms of hardship. In the streets of New York, we might see and hear the same things that could have been heard before.

William Blake in his writings often talks about the religious aspects in human life. From his writings, you can derive that he does not agree with the aspect of marriage and he even states “Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse (Blake, 1)”. Before this line, he talks about how the idea of marriage does not actually help a relationship but in actuality does quite the opposite. In another writing, he talks about how people are too worried about religion and often times overlook what is happening in their physical lives. He references a couple just going to church instead of tending to their kid who is seen crying on the steps. These aspects that he touches upon are somewhat still prevalent in today’s society as people often times look past the things that they have in life for something that they don’t. 

The Romantic period author utilized nature as a characteristic of love and passion. He would often get lost in the beauty of nature and time would pass with the wind. For instance, when starring at the colors of the mountain, the author felt “an appetite; a feeling of love… that time is past” (William Blake; page 3). Nature is his love and nature his distraction from reason. Romantic writers like Blake showcase the scattered, unreasoned thoughts of a person when love and passion take over. In fact, if you look at most romantic storylines, we see the same concept that many people get “blinded with love”. Therefore, like Blake’s awe for nature, Romantic period writers try to tell us that there is a catalyst of irrational thinking in everyone. We can not rely on reason, because love and passion will always get in the way.

Why do you think Shelley chose to write an ode to the wind? Does the wind represent some larger concept?

The way she speaks of the wind resembles how people pray to god. She praises the wind earlier in the poem, “Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!” (Shelley 14), and proceeds to ask of it to hear her out. The rest of the poem sounds like she is describing the current state of nature followed by here asking of the wind to do a favor, “to quicken a new birth” (Shelley 64). She is asking for a new, more enlightened era to be brought upon the world, and for the old world to be destroyed. The wind and nature representing a force that is capable of great destruction, but great creation as well.

It can be concluded that Blake was not satisfied in the society he lived in. In “London”, Blake describes a bleak and desolate city using descriptions like and mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe.” Blake is criticizing London and how its citizens seem to be in pain. Maybe he attributes this to religion? In the third poem, he describes a child weeping, crying for its parents. Instead of finding the solution to the child’s woes, the parents attempt to pray the woes away which does not work. It can be said that Blake was not the biggest proponent of religion.

Blake’s ideas did not fit the traditional Enlightenment thinking, and his poems often criticized the faults that he saw with this time period.  Many of the Englightenment ideas consisted of independent thought and personal enlightenment to improve society as a whole. However, Blake criticized the disparities in society that he saw between those in power (the church and the monarchy) “the priest and king” and the lower class such as the “Chimney-sweepers” and “Harlots” who were suffering in society. Blake’s work directly criticizes the fact that not everyone benefits from the enlightenment through self-reasoning, no matter how hard they may try to work on themselves. He criticized and opposed the ideas of the church and the government who abused their power that led to the suffering of many people.

Prompt: How do Romantic writers depict the limits of reason?

Often it is easy to see reason be the first thing to go when it comes to characters developing romantic feelings for each other. The cliche of being “blinded by love” or, in this case, any form of romantic emotion, stands true. It is also common that the limits of reason disappear as romantic feeling develop. One of the most well-known examples of this would be Romeo and Juliet. Reason/ rational-thinking was obviously not being used as Juliet faked her death without telling Romeo, and as Romeo responded by committing suicide without even confirming if Juliet was actually dead. Reason was depicted as virtually non-existent and this has been proven to be a commonality amongst romantic writers.

William Blake’s three poems illustrate his criticism of religion and the societal norms of his time (late eighteenth century England). His first piece, the excerpt from “The Gates of Paradise”, demonstrates his belief that religion hinders his sense of individualism. This idea is shown when Blake refers to God as “the Accuser”, thus characterizing God as a critical “power” rather than an accepting one. His loss of freedom due to religious constraint is referred to in the phrase,”The lost Traveller’s Dream under the Hill.” Blake’s second poem, “London” comments on the sense of oppression within the English community, which is seen his description of a mother and her unwanted child. Both the child’s and the mother’s sense of distress characterizes society’s negative perception of the powers controlling them (Church and State). Blake’s last poem, “The Chimney Sweeper”, is a commentary of the abusive nature of the Church influencing the abusive nature of adults, who use religion as a means to unfairly treat their children. Blake also shows the resentment that these children have towards their parents and, in a bigger picture, towards society. Blake’s criticism is still relevant today in terms of separating religion and society. Like Blake, I believe that religion should have zero influence on the way the public is run due to the somewhat unfair practices associated with religion.

In Dickinson’s perspective, to have “divinest Sense” may be a godlike understanding of the world society calls madness. This paradox is significant because Dickinson is telling the audience that if people are capable of developing and making their own judgements they are thought to be threats to society. Could this divine sense be the equivalent to enlightenment? Why does having this ‘sense’ have to be considered dangerous? Could the loss of control society has over those people be the reason they fear them, or are there more factors that contribute to that fear? How could this compare to Kant’s ideas in his What is Enlightenment essay?

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) distinguished herself from other poets with her unique use of punctuation. The dashes that appear throughout her poems help ensure that readers know exactly where to pause and what to emphasize. Her use of capitalization, similarly, help readers understand key points. Dickinson’s deliberate use of dashes and unusual capitalization clarifies the meaning of her poems and reduces the risk of misinterpretation and unanswered questions. Dickinson’s poems were designed to be read just as they were written, and to be understood exactly as she had intended.