BLAKE WEEK TWO: "When Elate I am Envy'd, When Meek I'm despis'd."
Week Two is upon the group and we delve deeper into the intricate world of William Blake. This week in the lecture MG introduced us to the life of Blake through a biographical video of the engraver/poet/artist. I enjoyed it and I liked how the class discussed what they thought about the video. Personally I found it interesting how other academics of that time, like William Wordsworth, turned on Blake and called him things like a LUNATIC and INSANE. I was suprised because I thought blokes like that would stick together. When I say that I don't mean lunatics, I mean academics and writers and so on. I guess Blake was too controversial or eccentric for other people. Were they threatened by his genius? Were they threatened by his achievements? Were they threatened by his work-ethic and outlook on life? These are the hot questions that should be addressed.
BLAKE: "What's the problem Wordsworth? Do you not like the jig in my step?"
WORDSWORTH: "No Blake, that's not it. I simply do not like how you fool people into thinking you are NOT an absolute bag of nuts!"
Okay judging by the quote in my title for this LJ (that's if you know the quote), I am going to discuss William Blake's Letter to Thomas Butts on August 16, 1803 (p467-469). We briefly went over it in the tutorial this week and after reading the letter I thought it was worth dedicating a journal to it. I was going to discuss some of his poems from Innocence & Experience but that is what our essay is on next week so I chose the path less travelled and want to discuss his letter (see I incorporated your little speech in the lecture there MG).
To Thomas Butts, August 16, 1803
I am going to approach this letter in several different parts but in sequence of how the letter unfolds (excuse the pun).
PART ONE: I noticed that the letter started off with Blake doing the polite thing and asking how his friend Butts was doing in life. It is actually pretty deep and respectful and I guess this is the kind of bloke Blake was. "Pray tell me how your Eyes do. I never sit down to work but I think of you & feel anxious for the sight of that friend whose Eyes have done me so much good." Now if one of my mates sent me a letter asking me this question and stating these facts, I can tell you now I would be a little concerned. I understand Blake was a married man but this type of language does kind of ring alarm bells in my mind. I'll let it go for now and pass it off as deep concern for Butts. If I find out otherwise during the semester then I'll know my initial concerns were warranted. Blake then goes on to talk about the several works he is finishing off that Butts is funding.
Tell me how your Eyes do? Well the eyes are the windows to the soul. Maybe that's what Blake meant? How is your soul Buttsy?
PART TWO: The letter takes on a different tone in the second paragraph. It is actually quite a major shift because the topic changes all together and is a little unexpected. It is unexpected because Blake started the letter with such a warm and deep tone. He now begins to discuss an incident he is caught up in where he is in trouble with the law. Blake details to Butts how a warrant has been taken out against him by a Private John Scofield for an assault and seditious words. I had to grab the dictionary to find out exactly what seditious meant, I had a fair idea because of what Blake was saying afterwards in the letter but I still wasn't 100% sure. For anyone else that doesn't know the meaning it basically means "words inciting rebellion against an authority of the state." (Thankyou www.dictionary.com).
What I found interesting about Blake's account of the whole incident (which I will briefly summarize for you below), is that he doesn't just seem to retell the events in question. He actually seems to write it in a way as if to clear his name to Butts and get the whole thing off his chest. I think the tone that Blake wrote this part of the letter in reveals his fondness and utter respect he had for Butts. Basically what Blake recalls of the incident is that a man named John Scofield (a Private in the Armed Forces) was invited into his garden by Blake's gardener (this invitation was unknown to Blake however). Blake politely asked Scofield to exit his premises in which Scofield declined to leave. Blake asked again and this time was threatened to have his "eyes knocked out." Blake obviously took exception to this remark and physically removed Scofield from his garden (and so he should!). Scofield put up some form of resistance (being a private in the army and all) but Blake, a poet, grabbed him by the elbows and over-powered Scofield 50 yards down the road to the local pub. GOOD ON YOU BLAKESTER! GIVE HIM ANOTHER ONE FOR ME SON!
Anyway after this Scofield and his comrade Private Cock (no joke that was his name and quite possibly his personality to match), went into the pub and cooked up a story that Blake assaulted Scofield and said derogatory things about the Queen/state/ government. Now Blake has several witnesses that can clear his name but he was still arrested and bail was set. He was bailed out by his friends Mr Hayley and Mr Seagrave (Hayley's publisher). Good mates aye. I'd like to think my mates would do that for me but then again I'd like to think I wouldn't get myself into the position to need bail in the first place. That is basically how the story goes, Blake now waits for the hearing and seems a little stressed out by the whole thing.
This is abit like Blake's arrest. A deadset joke. Chin up Blakester.
PART THREE: Blake now begins to seek advice from Butts about his predicament. He asks if Butts can do some research on Scofield as he finds that any help would beneficial to his cause. This is where a quite beautiful poem is pencilled into the letter by Blake capturing perfectly how he feels at that point in time. I really like this poem and respect Blake for putting it in a private letter rather than trying to make a quick dollar from it and sell it. The poem is below.
O why was I born with a different face?
Why was I not born like the rest of my race?
When I look, each one starts! when I speak, I offend;
Then I’m silent and passive and lose every Friend.
Then my verse I dishonor, My pictures despise,
My person degrade and my temper chastise;
And the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame;
All my Talents I bury, and dead is my Fame.
I am either too low or too highly priz’d;
When Elate I am Envy’d, When Meek I’m despis’d.
What I immediately take from this poem is that Blake is feeling pretty low at this point of his life. The world is against him. He is feeling sorry for himself and the situation he is caught up in. I think he did brilliantly to capture this in his poem. Now I don't know if Blake wrote this poem at the same point in time as he wrote this letter or if he wrote it earlier and simply included it because it suited his mood. Regardless of the fact Blake really exposed his vulnerability here and it is deadset peachy.
"O why was I born with a different face?" I love this line. Immediately Blake suggests he is not your average joe from down the road. He questions why he is looked at differently to other people. Why am I special? Why am I abnormal? Why me? The next line really solidifies his anguish and confusion. "Why was I not born like the rest of my race?" Blake knew he wasn't an average man. He knew he was talented. He knew he was blessed. On his deathbed he was asked about the songs he was singing and he stated "These words are not mine." Blake knew other powers were at work in his life. Blake basically goes on to state in the last lines of the first stanza that he is in a Catch 22 situation. "When I speak, I offend; Then I'm silent & passive & lose every Friend." This situation sucks AND blows. Imagine having this life? Trying to live normally but it isn't good enough for other people. Then when you try and please them by watching what you or biting your tongue, you still can't please them! Poor bloke. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as this and he was just in a depressive state of mind at the time but who knows. I've heard of stranger things happening.
The second stanza reveals Blake turning on himself and blaming himself for what is happening around him. Blake is probably thinking, "Who is to blame? Well I must be because everyone is against me and it seems to be a trend at the moment. I might as well grab all the pressure and mount it on my shoulders." "And the pen is my terror, the pencil my shame, All my Talents I bury, and dead is my Fame." See this line of thinking that Blake adopted is because of idiots in society that started whispering in the dark that Blake was a LUNATIC. His work was his life. He made a decent living out of it. But obviously this wasn't good enough for others. They begin to exclude Blake and label him. This obviously cut Blake deep. Just read the poem. He was a mess!
The rhyming couplet at the end of the poem sums things up for Blake. "I am either too low or too highly priz’d;When Elate I am Envy’d, When Meek I’m despis’d." This is the Catch 22 resurfacing from before. Blake can't win either way he walks. It doesn't matter what path he walks. He will still be labelled and victimized. I love how he put it though in these lines. When he is joyous and happy people are jealous and don't like it. When he is submissive and humble society hates him. Screw 'em Blake! Take a page from Bart Simpson's book and say,
Stick it up them Blake!
PART FOUR: The last paragraph is short and sweet. Even though Blake felt like the world was against him, he still had kind words for his friend Butts and wished him well. "I pray God to keep you & all men from it & deliver me in his own good time." He still has a glimmer of hope here and puts his faith in God to bring him out of this time of hardship. A lesser man would probably blame God for his misfortunes but Blake never did. He believed God would help him. He even sang about heaven on his deathbed, that is how much faith he had in God. Good going mate.
That is all for Week Two.
Tucks signing off.
P.S. I didn't want to leave the essay with a feeling that many people thought Blake was nuts. I did some research and found an online jounral article that revealed that Blake had his admirers too. He may have been seen as a little mad but that was also seen as a good thing for people of that time. I will paste a small section of the article below and then create a link to the whole online journal.
The Baptist Minister, John Martin, proclaimed that if Blake is cracked, "his is a crack that lets in the Light" (176), and Edward Fitzgerald stated that Blake was "quite mad: but of a madness that was really the elements of great genius ill sorted: in fact a genius with a screw loose" (132-33).
Perhaps this is Blake's crazy cat?
Called Urizen the Cat?
Click on the image to read the online journal article mentioned.