Homage to William Blake — A mind unlike any other
I pay homage and give tribute to William Blake for two main reasons, one is intensity , the other is passion.
“ You never know what is enough, unless you know what is more than enough”
William Blake
Britain has produced a vast amount of literary figures, none however is equal to William Blake.
A relentless painter and formidable poet Blake the artist , or William the philosopher is to my mind the epitome of relevancy, always and forever, and now perhaps more than ever.
Blake was considered a madman in his age, but then again, a mind able to penetrate the mists of time, can rightly be considered a prophet. And all prophets, true or otherwise are mad.
The 19th-century scholar William Rossetti characterized 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”. W.
At a time when England was a constricted society, Blake advocated for free love, almost two hundred years before the counter culture movement.
His advocacy for equality, of gender, race or sexual orientation was as radical as it was sweeping.
When first reading his poems, the main impact produced in me was one of intensity. For here was a mind, putting into words and images a concentration of forces and passions that overwhelmed me.
Before I could understand what Blake could possibly mean when stating : “To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.” I knew, or sensed instinctively that this was the kind of insight I desired to emulate inside my own mind. I wanted to be such a mind that could perceive such realms.
William Blake, via his poems and imagery has impacted my mind profoundly, more importantly perhaps I see the moment in my personal history when the encounter with Blake’s works gave me the strength and passion to pursue avenues of becoming a bright lover of all life. No strings or conditions attached.
I am a strong believer in the idea that a great poet such as Blake is the archetype of the best a human mind can be and become. In a different sense, and somewhat quirky perspective, where we to need send an ambassador for humanity to encounter an alien species, I would nominate William Blake for the job.
My admiration for William Blake is enduring to this day, his poem ‘The Tyger’ is the actual origination of my name.
Blake considered himself a creator, and a critic of his own creations, forever altering his own ideas and thoughts, never stagnating.
In his poem The Tyger, the most fascinating detail, may be the fact that the first stanza and last stanza are identical but for one word.
“What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” becomes “What immortal hand or eye, / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”.
Could becomes Dare!
This one word change, was and still is to this day for me a fundamental call to the conscious aware human, to dare to become.
I read William Blake as I believe all great works of art should be read, in a deeply personal and highly intimate fashion.
Daring to self create in the process.
The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
William Blake
This is the second post on my new shorts series: ‘Homage To’- Paying tribute to minds that changed my mind.
