The mysticism of the poet and painter William Blake

[I Have A Dream]

A poet and painter, William Blake is considered to be a man who gave back Britain a sense of identity, at a time when the French and American Revolutions were doing the same in those countries. But above all, Blake was a mystic, a visionary, with at least one foot in the Otherworld – if not more.

William Blake is probably most famous for the opening verse of his “Auguries of Innocence”: “To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.” The verse formed one of the centrepieces of the Tombraider movie about Lara Croft at the height of her fame; it was probably an hour even Blake would not have been able to prophesize.

The verse was Blake’s rephrasing of “as above, so below”, expressing Blake’s adherence to the notion of correspondences. He shared with the Hermetics that if one could really see, everything was double, micro- and macro-cosmic. To this, he added, that “without contraries there is no progression”. Ackroyd begins his biography of Blake by stating that “in the visionary imagination of William Blake there is no birth and no death, no beginning and no end, only the perpetual pilgrimage within time towards eternity.”

The future, as the opening verse might suggest, was Blake’s obsession – but so was the past, as the future would restore the glories of the past. Blake not so much romanticised, but “mythicised” the past, especially Celtic-megalithic Britain and the Druids, a past that he had labelled “Albion” and which was largely seen as a Garden of Eden – but British in nature.

(continued at the link below)

http://www.philipcoppens.com/blake.html


Some of his paintings:

[Celebration]

1. so interesting

I remember him as a poet, not a painter. The paintings seem to sum things up with him. Thanks!

[Kind of Blue]

3. LOLOL...I know him as a painter, not a poet.

[rucognizant]

5. from astrodienst data bank.........

http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Blake%2C_William

fascinating story.

[stellanoir]

2. "Tiger, tiger. . ."

as ever and will always be.

Thanks for the refresher.

And, "did those feet. . ." actually ?

An amazing mind for sure.

[Kind of Blue]

4. Thanks for the article on this

fascinating man. He is definitely one of my inspirations :thumbsup:

[rucognizant]

6. How timely!

Thanks IHAD, just what I needed to read....to fit some more pieces into the puzzle!
My Mother had a book of his poems, I think I still have it. SHe was working on spiritual development/enlightenment, at a time when I was busy with family kids etc in another city.......so we didn't talk about it............

[Howler]

7. OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Excellent post Ihad!!!!