William Blake is said to be a very visual artist and in his visions, is where he got all of his ideas. In this essay Im going to explore some of Blakes works and the visions that caused him to write about some of the things that he wrote about. William Blake, born November 28, 1757, grew up as the son of a haberdasher, Blake, with close to zero education in a London suburb due to having a bad temper.
He taught himself everything that he knew. From the ages of 0 to 14, he taught himself how to read and he had read many of Miltons pieces, the Bible, and some of Shakespeares work. He also taught himself Latin (Norton 65). During his free time since he didnt attend school, he spent this time in a print shop.
He spent his pocket money for engravings of different Italian Masters. All of this freedom that he had helped him to gather impressions and sensations from the world that helped him with his drawings until he died. Later in his life he decided on apprenticing as an engraver instead of becoming an artist, even though he was a friend of many of the great artists. He worked as an apprentice for a well-known engraver. His engraving skills that he learned helped him with his craftsmanship, and a higher branch of art (Raine 9-10).
Blake married an illiterate woman at the age of twenty-four, named Catherine. He decided on courting her in Battersea, and the church where they were married is the only church still standing to this very day (Raine 7). Blake encountered many hardships in his life including being arrested for making slanderous statements about different things. All of the events that Blake endured in his life had a great influence on his masterful writings and drawings. It was once said that Blake and his wife were so poor, that his wife would lay an empty plate in front of him at dinner because they didnt have anything at all to eat, and this made Blake start drawing pictures of what he wished was on his plate. One task that he was assigned was to draw many of the monuments of kings and queens in Westminster Abbey.
When Blake was young he had many different visions that also caused him to start drawing these visions on the flaps of his dads books. One of the visions that he had was of a dark satanic mill where he saw severed humans. Another of his visions was a deadly, horrible dream of the same dark satanic mills and furnaces were burning the people. Those two visions were thought to be from anger that was built up inside towards danger and imagination. He thought and believed that the perfect society was the City of God, and that human spirits were the same in Heaven and in Hell (Raine 8-10).
These visions allowed him to virtually perfect the elements of point of view, setting, characterization, tone, theme, and irony. In first person point of view the author is extremely restricted because one of the characters is telling the story, eliminating the author as narrator. In William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper, in Songs of Experience, the story is told through the eyes of a little boy. And unlike most of Blakes work this poem is not written in a form known as All May Read (Abrams 73). When Blake wrote the rebound of his first collection, Songs of Innocence, his vision of his audience might have been a little blurred; therefore, we as an audience have to take into consideration the mental state of the speaker that Blake has created.
In this particular poem the speaker is a little black thing among the snow. One reason this poem is not an all may read poem is because if the reader is not familiar with Blakes work he or she may not understand why this boy is being called a little black thing; this is not to construe the thought of a racial slur or anything of the nature. The little boy is black because he is covered in soot from the chimney, but how are we to know unless we are familiar with Songs of Innocence. For those who still are unfamiliar with his work it is difficult to understand his perspective because he goes from fiction to realistic and then back to fiction without missing a beat.
Later in this poem of Experience the little boy talks about smiling among the winters snow giving we the reader the impression of some white, snow-capped environment when at that particular time there was very little snow in London (Abrams 70) the whole winter. So he expects the reader to be able to envision this oasis of social forces that have reduced him (the boy) to misery(Abrams 70). Which brings us to the setting Blake has described in this poem. Setting includes several aspects of a work of fiction including the sensuous world of work, the time in which the action of the work takes place, and the social environment of the character. This would be the manners, customs, and moral values that create an image of the character for the reader. The image we get from reading The Chimney Sweeper in Songs of Experience is that of a small lost and abandoned African-American child lying in the snow crying because his parents went to the church to pray for what they want which is not him.
This image does not exactly hit the nail on the head, but this poem is in Songs of Experience so Blake expects the reader to be experienced enough to have read Innocence and understand that when he says little black thing he is not referring to Michael Jordans son. And when he talks about thy father and mother he is not referring to happily married Dick and Jane, he is talking about how society, religion, and government share a responsibility in the persecution of children (Abrams 70). But the ironic thing about this is that a reader who does not understand Blakes intentions can still enjoy this poem. Irony could be defined as a diverse and often complex intellectual phenomenon difficult to be justified in a sentence or two. The intention of irony is to make a precise contrast between appearance and reality.
There are many types of irony that Blake uses in his writing including verbal irony. Verbal irony could be most easily understood in the sense that when somebody says the opposite of what they actually want us to believe. For example, in The Chimney Sweeper the little boy cries, because I am happy, and dance and sing. It is somewhat obvious that Blakes speaker is being sarcastic because by reading the rest of the poem it is easy to acquire the sense that joy and happiness does not give us a strong vibe.
But the vibe to be felt in every poem is the central idea. The central idea, otherwise known as the theme, deals with four general areas of human experience: the nature of humanity, the nature of society, the nature of human-kinds relationship toward the world, and the nature of our ethical responsibilities. When Blake wrote The Chimney Sweeper he was writing it from a socialistic standpoint in that everybody had a particular role in the community. Depending on what family one was born decided what he or she would do for the rest of their lives, no matter what aspirations or dreams they might have. He is a Chimney Sweeper, he was born into that job without a choice, and he says, They think they have done me no injury.
Who are they? They are the same people who influenced Blakes writing. They are the same people who dictate the society with the same logical structure (Bloom 271) with which Blake writes this poem. Unlike The Garden of Love, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, London, and a few other poems that Blake wrote, most have explicit counterparts(Bloom 271) in the other volume that are contrary. In The Songs of Innocence there is another poem called The Chimney Sweeper which is a complete anonym to the poem we have been discussing. It is completely elementary oriented and described as an exquisite platitude of the world(Abrams 71). Though the two poems are so different they are both constructed under the same socialistic viewpoints, only one is presentable to immature readers because it has more characterization.
Characterization is the authors presentation and development of characters. To understand the characterization in The Songs of Experience one has to be able to understand The Chimney Sweeper in The Songs of Innocence. The only characterization is that of the little boy and his disapproval on life and his unhappiness. Though the poem is short it would still do the speaker justice to say his character is simple, especially when it is extremely prevalent that Blakes tone toward his speaker is supportive.
Tone is an aspect of point of view that is known as the narrators predominant attitude toward the subject, whether that subject is a particular setting, event, or even an idea. It is imperative to notice William Blakes choice of words when he describes the little boy to understand his tone. He gives the reader somewhat of the impression that maybe he himself was of a deprived child. Blake does not stand point blank, but it is clear what he implies from the emphasized manifestations that he creates when he talks about the little boy Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! Blake was raised with a great biblical upbringing, he once declared that, all he knew was in the Bible, and that The Old and New Testaments were the Great Code of Art.All of the events that William Blake endured in his life had a great influence on his masterful writings and paintings, and allowed him to perfect the elements of point of view, characterization, setting, tone, irony, and theme
“Kill A Mockingbird” Characters Review
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus, Scout’s father, advises her and Jem to aim at tin cans in the backyard instead of birds. However, he acknowledges that they will likely target birds, especially blue jays. He allows them to shoot as many blue jays as they desire as long as they can’t hit them. Nevertheless, he emphasizes that it is considered a sin to kill a mockingbird. This quote symbolizes Boo Radley and Tom Robinson because these two characters are like mockingbirds who lack their own “songs.” Like mockingbirds, their identities are only shaped by what others say about them. Consequently, both Boo and Tom face prejudice and judgments from others.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, a time marked by high unemployment and homelessness, the novel is set. Shanty towns with makeshift shelters made of sheet metal and scrap were prevalent, while many jobless individuals traveled by train seeking work, shelter, and food. Back in 1931, if someone worked 55 or 60 hours in Alabama, they would only earn $150 per year. As jobs were scarce and wages low, competition for employment often led to conflicts, particularly between black and white people. The Scottsboro trial, an infamous court case in American history, occurred during this period and shared similarities with the fictional trial of Tom Robinson.
The Scottsboro trials originated from an incident on March 25, 1931. During a train journey from Tennessee to Alabama, two white women accused nine African American men of raping them on an open car after disembarking from the train. Multiple trials took place, resulting in different verdicts for the defendants. The trials shared similarities with the fictional trial of Tom Robinson, as both cases involved accusations of black men raping white women in 1930s Alabama. A not guilty verdict would have meant that the jury believed a black person’s testimony over a white person’s, which was deemed unacceptable in society at that time. In both cases, the accused individuals were poor black men who were made scapegoats for covering up other transgressions. In the Scottsboro case, Ruby Bates and Victoria Pierce accused the men of rape to conceal their involvement in a criminal act during their journey from Tennessee to Alabama. Additionally, it was revealed that Victoria Pierce was a known prostitute. In Tom Robinson’s trial, Mayella Ewell accused him of rape to hide the fact that she had made advances towards him, which was socially unacceptable in Maycomb during that period. Furthermore, her father, Bob, punished her for this behavior.
The Jim Crow laws were implemented after the emancipation of slaves, as they continued to be regarded as minorities. These laws mandated that African Americans attend segregated schools, utilize separate water fountains, and were barred from entering the same restaurants and bars frequented by white individuals.
All these worries prompted the black community to initiate a civil rights movement in order to protest their labeling as inferior citizens.
The character Boo Radley in the novel is a victim of prejudice. He faces rejection and does not fit into Maycomb society due to his differences, resulting in punishment from a judgmental community. Boo’s actions deviate from what society considers normal, appearing mysterious and abnormal. For instance, he once stabbed his father with scissors and showed no remorse or apology. As a result, Boo isolates himself from the people of Maycomb, choosing to stay inside his home where he remains unseen for fifteen years after some legal trouble. He knows that if he were to venture outside, he would be unfairly regarded as a foreign visitor due to his enigmatic behavior. It is this understanding that leads Boo to remain secluded and avoid the ridicule of his society.
Boo is the subject of gossip and is considered the town’s peculiar character. The townspeople wonder about Boo’s activities inside his house. It is believed that Boo would venture out at night, under the cover of a moonless sky, and secretly observe any minor illegal activities occurring in Maycomb. The townsfolk would point fingers at Boo and hold him responsible for every trivial offense.
Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, becomes the primary target of prejudice in Maycomb due to his race. The difficulties faced by African Americans in Maycomb during the 1930s were compounded by the existence of the Jim Crow laws. These laws were established after the emancipation of slaves and perpetuated the perception of African Americans as minorities. Jim Crow laws mandated segregated schools, separate water fountains, and prohibited African Americans from patronizing the same restaurants and bars as white individuals.
Tom Robinson, in the eyes of the white society, is viewed as a “sorry nigger” who committed an unfathomable crime. Within the novel, Tom serves as a representative for the black community in American society. Similar to Boo Radley, Tom Robinson’s character is shaped by the rumors and judgments of the people residing in Maycomb county. Following accusations of rape, many perceive him as a malevolent creature. During the trial, the white townspeople feel conflicted about supporting Tom over a white woman. Their opposition is evident in their rejection of Atticus as Tom’s attorney, labeling him a “nigger lover” for his unwavering commitment to defending Tom with utmost diligence.
In the 1930s, there was a belief that white people’s testimony carried more credibility than black people’s. This is shown during Mr. Gilmer’s cross-examination of Tom in court, where he questions Tom by saying, ‘you claim she is lying, boy?’ This indicates that even if Mayella is not being truthful, the white community will still believe her over any black person, whether they are honest or not.
Denver Hyper Over Loss Of Pei Paraboloid
Denverites trying to save the 1950s Zeckendorf Plaza by I.M. Pei,which had a notable hyperbolic paraboloid, failed. But they havestarted a movement, the Modern Architecture Preservation League, andissued a manifesto. It goes beyond preserving popular roadsidearchitecture or symbols of modernism approved by the establishment(such as the Lever and the Seagram’s buildings in New York).
The thought of accepting modernism on its own terms may be a hard sellin locales still suffering from the imposition of those terms onworkable, livable cities. Save destroyers of cities for the fact theywere destroyers of cities? As Mr. Spock would say, “fascinating.”Elvis’s public housing unit to be demo’dIn between a shack in Tupelo and Graceland, Elvis Presley lived for animpressionable decade in a public housing project in Memphis. He laterrecalled soaking up the sounds and rhythms of the multi-racial stew.
Three years after his family left the project, Elvis was a phenomenon.
That public housing development will be demolished this winter,according to the New York Times.
The former Presley unit is reportedly barely habitable. From what onecan tell from a picture of the current tenant out on the King’s stoop,it looks similar to Buffalo’s Commodore Perry and Langfield projects -three story Bauhaus versions of penury. A preservation problem withthese developments, even when associated with local or nationalfigures, is that they fail to muster the broad community affectionnecessary for their preservation.
Welcome to historic LevittownThe Levittown Historical Society of Levittown, L.I. is looking for amuseum, preferably a Cape Cod house with its integrity intact. 17,000were built, but with cheapness a watchword among the developers,owners soon desired, or had to, replace original materials and expand.
(A good place to observe that dynamic locally is Tonawanda’s GreenAcres subdivision, west of Niagara Falls Blvd. and south of theYoungman.) Levittown’s 50th anniversary is in 1997.
Baltimore’s horse-drawn fruit carts threatenedWell, there goes the neighborhood. New townhouse construction in oldBaltimore is threatening the historic stables used by fruit vendors tostore their carts and horses. The vendors, called arabbers, are acolorful and ancient local tradition. Their plight has led to thecreation of an Arabber Preservation Society (which has helped restoreone of the stables), but has also drawn the attention of the MarylandHorse Protection Coalition, which claims the horses are mistreated.
Many of the horses were bought at auction, saving them fromslaughterhouses.
‘Malled’ town unmalls its Main StreetRock Hill, South Carolina, fought the symptoms of decline-shabbydowntown brought on by mill closings in the 1970s-with a solid roofover its Main Street, from building faade to building faade. Themall thus made, buildings around it were demolished for parking. Upperfloor offices looked over a surreal landscape of roofing andutilities. Soon it was evident that a mistake was made. Years of studyconfirmed what everyone knew – the roof had to go.
“The only way to revitalize downtown was to return it to a villageatmosphere,” said Stephen Turner, the director of a private/publicdevelopment corporation. It has proved to be an expensive lesson – 20years and untold millions of dollars tossed to the winds – but atleast Rock Hill didn’t toss all its buildings to the wind. Restorationto pre-1970s conditions is underway.
The URL’s of these arehttp://bfn.org/preservationworks/bpr/December95/mall.html and that’s all! (