The Romantic British Poets

I. Intro I. Introduction A. Definition: B. Defining Moment:

I.Introduction C. Intellectual Background 1. transcendentalism 1. transcendentalism 2. time, history, and nostalgia

I. Introduction—C. Intellectual Backgroun 3. Organicism a. Descartes’ three substances substances b. Spinoza—matter and mind are both part of god 3. Kant—mind is not just a passive receiver; it participates in creation

Organicism universe God God Humans Humans

C. Intellectual Background 4. Nature 5. The Imagination 6. The Figure of the Poet a.b.c.

II. William Blake (1757—1827) A. Introduction 1. Biographical stuff 2. Visionary, Genius, Artist, Poet

II. A. Blake--Introduction 3. Blake’s vision 4. Blake’s Archetypal Pattern Radical Innocence Innocence Innocence Experience Experience

II. Blake Introduction 5. Blake’s theory of love and sexuality

II. Blake Introduction 6. Blake’s Theory or Religion a. Blake saw a gap between real religion and institutionalized religion a. He was a devout Christian, but saw Jesus as not “God becoming man” but as “man becoming God,” i.e. a human who reached the level of wisdom (of radical innocence) that is available to all of us

II. A. Blake Introduction 5. Blakean Theory of the Imagination 1. All reality is mental 2. Inner and outer realities co-create each other 3. Humanity recreates existence—gives it meaning (responsibility of the conscious individual)

B. His Poems 1. Songs of Innocence and Experience a. Mock on Mock On b. Chimney Sweeper c. Divine Image and Human Abstract d. The Lamb and The Tyger e. London f. Garden of Love g. Proverbs of Hell