Best Entry from week 1-6
LJ Best Entry from week 1-6!
Literature Entry: Week 1
This Semester we will be exploring the impact that William Blake has had on the Australian culture, people and literature. During this weeks tutorial i discovered that not only was Blake a writer and a poet but a very talented artist. Often his art complemented his writing and created a deeper meaning for his audience. I soon realised that in order to grasp a solid understanding of his writing I will need to become familiar with the artwork that corresponds with the poem or piece of writing. Blake’s key to success was his connection with himself and the environment and natural objects around him. His imagination is the key ingredient to all of his work as he uses it to not only create images in his readers minds but brings the expereinces he explores in his creative works alive in the world of the reader.
Blake’s Illustration is truely amazing. I am generally not interested in art but i really like this illustration as i feel a connection to it through the inclusion of the sun. The detail that Blake includes in his art work can often be percieved as strange, but im convinced that every ingredient has undergone much thought. I think that this illustration is a symbol of Blake and everything that he strived for.
Allen Ginsberg: My Vision of Blake
Allen Ginsberg explores his connection to Blake by reflecting on the poem:
Ah! Sunflower
Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;
Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.
William Blake
In Ginsberg’s reflection he explores the concept of journey by expressing his emotions in a very unique style of writing. The form of writing that Ginsberg uses brings his feelings and emotions alive rather then a simply description he uses the repetitive train of thought style to make the expereince more realistic. At the heart of the piece is the idea that every living creature and object has a lot more to offer then what is on the surface. Everything has a history and development within that is much more extensive then what the naked eye percieves on the exterior. Ginsberg suggests that when both he and Blake look at something they see the God and creator within the creature. Ginsberg has encountered an emotional and spitirual journey through Blakes poem ‘Sunflower’ and has devloped a strong connection with his natural surroundings. This idea is signified through “So that i began noticing in every corner where i looked evidences of a living hand, even in the bricks, in the arrangement of each brick” along with “ God was in front of my eyes- existence itself was God.”Ginsberg has tapped deep into the minds of humans and the lack of appreciaition they show to the small things in life. Human ignorance if exploited and he implies that humanity lives in a world where their eyes are blinded by fog and they are alientated by the exterior surfaces.
Overall both artists encourgae their reader’s to appreciate the simply things in life and live each day to the full extent.
I think that both of these artists still have a strong relavance for today’s society that has lost its lack of appreciation for life and living as they are blinded by the material world. It emphasises the need for creativity and imgaination!