APW: William Blake (530 hits)
Category: Quotes & Stories -> PoetryRating: 1.53 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by S.I. Co. Semen (View user info) at 2007-04-11 08:24:29 EDT
William Blake
In 1788, at the age of 31, Blake began to experiment with relief etching, a method he would use to produce most of his books, paintings, pamphlets and of course his poems, including his longer 'prophecies' and his masterpiece the "Bible". The process is also referred to as illuminated printing, and final products as illuminated books or prints. Illuminated printing involved writing the text of the poems on copper plates with pens and brushes, using an acid-resistant medium. Illustrations could appear alongside words in the manner of earlier illuminated manuscripts. He then etched the plates in acid in order to dissolve away the untreated copper and leave the design standing in relief (hence the name). This is a reversal of the normal method of etching, where the lines of the design are exposed to the acid, and the plate printed by the intaglio method. Relief etching, which Blake invented, later became an important commercial printing method. The pages printed from these plates then had to be hand-colored in water colors and stitched together to make up a volume. Blake used illuminated printing for most of his well-known works, including Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Book of Thel, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Jerusalem.
He later claimed that this discovery came from his dead brother who appeared to him in a vision and described the technique.
Auguries of Innocence
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.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.
Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.
The wild deer, wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.
The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.
The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot.
The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy.
The prince's robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;
This is caught by females bright,
And return'd to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.
The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.
The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.
One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.
He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.
The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.
The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.
The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.
The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
*on a side note* You would recognize Blake's painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun" from the book Red Dragon
The Ancient of Days
User Reviews
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2007-12-03 11:24:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I still reckon I could eat you for breakfast.
Submitted by bruzwuld (user info) at 2007-11-11 07:37:01 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
William Blake was a wonderful artist and writer. His works of art and writing are among the great masterpieces left to the world. Your submission (the part you wrote) has not done full justice to this great man and his work.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-04-12 06:57:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, well....I was absent that day, Saccy.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2007-04-11 21:22:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
YAY APW
I like that you included a poem.
O did one on this piece, too
http://www.ubersite.com/m/92172
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2007-04-11 17:54:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
One of the single most talented (and note the syntax here, it's not his talent that's single, he's got shit tons of different varieties of it) men in history. Love him.
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-04-11 17:41:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Mr. Madison, what you've said is one of the most insanely idiotic things i've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul.
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2007-04-11 17:28:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Tiger Tiger etc
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-04-11 15:38:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-04-11 14:23:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yup, that's definitely a "Let's Fuck!" Auto +2 Scoure.
For he's a jolly good fellow'....
refrain
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-04-11 14:02:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
watch it, scumbag, i'm in a foul mood
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-04-11 13:53:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I think scourge just said the he wanted to fuck.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-04-11 13:49:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
coat-tailing shitheel -1
i love Blake +2
Submitted by ShermanTankBuddhaBalls (user info) at 2007-04-11 13:25:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Harlots....yummmmmm.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-04-11 11:25:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like your APW posts.
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2007-04-11 11:16:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice; Blake is good
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-04-11 10:44:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Blake rocks:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~williams/biblit/html/bangels.jpg
http://www.apocalyptic-theories.com/gallery/horsemen/blakehorsebg.jpg
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-04-11 10:42:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by Draco (user info) at 2007-04-11 10:39:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Regardless of the originality of the idea, I thought the picture was pretty wicked
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That's what I thought too. Both the picture and the poem have never been on uber and therefore it makes it pretty original to most of you fucks. Rad is just a jesuit and is required, by religious law, to be a cantankerous fuck just for spite and/or to jump on the "hate sicosemen" train. I love the hate, but don't like the stupid fucks.
If he read any of my last 20 posts he could find all the originality he could dream of...
Submitted by Draco (user info) at 2007-04-11 10:39:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Regardless of the originality of the idea, I thought the picture was pretty wicked
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-04-11 09:04:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Brand new Shlongy.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2007-04-11 08:42:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you're pretty much on point, I pretty much just judged this from the title.
worth reading I suppose
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-04-11 08:33:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Rad, you see one thing out of 20 and that's the best you can come up with. Get a fucking clue, chair jockey.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2007-04-11 08:28:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That picture reminded me of goatse.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2007-04-11 08:25:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
get an original idea for once plz