BLAKE WEEK ELEVEN: Coming to the home stretch...
It that time of semester again folks where we get ready to say "damn this semester went fast." Well I am going to say right now "damn this semester went fast." There you go. I said it. Summer is coming. What to do? What to do?
I'm heading to QLD in january. Thats all I have planned. I'll come back black as a chimney too. I wish I lived there then I would be tanned all year around. Hmmm there's a thought. Anyone wanna be roommates with me on Surfers Paradise? Lets do it. I'll be taking offers.
So what can I discuss this week for LJ Week 11. I want to discuss Blake because it have been a while since I have spoken about him directly. It is a Blake unit after all.
I think I want to discuss my favourite works of Blake. I will list my top 3 i think. Yes that is what I will do.
The Bronze goes to The Visions of the Daughters of Albion. I initially did not like this too much. I ended up getting into it though. I liked how Oothoon made some revelatory remarks to Theotormon. She made sense. About perception and about not being blind to the possibility of more being out there. I think this is great stuff. I only really like her character. I think this was possibly Blake's intention. Theotormon is a bum. A little sook. And Bromion...well we all know how I feel about that pinhead. I ended up liking the story though (of course I didn't like the rape) but it all tied in and made for a good read. Powerful messages in the storyline. Fan of it.
The Silver goes to The Little Black Boy. I think this a great poem because it discusses the soul. I think the soul is such a mysterious thing to even contemplate. Can you imagine if our souls were like a vault and everything we have ever done is stored in that vault and one day we get to walk through this vault and see everything we have done. And I mean everything. I think it would be more embarrasing and cringing moments than good ones. What you think?
Blake doesn't discuss this theory though. He writes about the thoughts of a Black boy and his mother. I think it is great that the notion of the body being a vessel for the soul is awesome. This poem was just pipped on the line by the poem I selected for number one slot. Only just. "And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face is but a cloud, and like a shady grove." How good is this? Everything is temporary. Our bodies are just here for a small time. It doesn't matter if we are black or white. Our souls don't have a colour. I love this notion. I believe it too. Blake you machine!
My favourite work of Blake and the winner of the gold medal is most certainly The Poison Tree. I think Blake must have known me in a past life because this poem is definately about the person I once was. I used to be a person who would bottle up my disgust/dislike/ wrath for someone and let it linger inside for a long time. When the time was right I would explde all over that person like an avalanche of horror and the person would be standing there with absolutely no comeback. Kind of like lying dead under a tree (but not as bad). I think Blake's message in this post is noble and is telling the reader that if we do indeed not make peace with our friends or foes early then it can turn into something really bad. A poison tree will emerge in our minds and bear poison fruit and then we will be serving up warm apple pie to people we are pissed off at.
I am very glad that I have gone through the experiences I have in life. I am glad because it has made me realise that arguing over petty things is a waste of energy and we lose pieces of our integrity when we get bothered by trivial things. If someone calls you ugly then just laugh it off and say "I could be dumb and ugly, atleast im only half of that haha." Seriously it's not worth it. Blake is a good man for writing this poem. He chose to write to help us rather than write nonsense that our modern day writers seem to feed us. Like some of the song lyrics out today are absolute puss. When did songs become purely about the sound? And not the words? I think decent music today is few and far between. As you can see, my music taste is back in the 60s and 70s. Thank you Blake.
One more week to go.
Tucks Signing Off.