The Complete Poems: William Blake (Penguin Classics)
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"Blake is for strong minds...but not to have read him is to have missed one of the most rewarding experiences in English literature; and this is by far the best book to read him in." Victor Price, BBC
"All in all, the Stevenson text surpasses its predecessors in its lucid comprehensibility and should win a wide number of readers." Times Literary Supplement
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.Product Description
One of the great English Romantic poets, William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist, poet, mystic and visionary. His work ranges from the deceptively simple and lyrical Songs of Innocence and their counterpoint Experience - which juxtapose poems such as 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger', and 'The Blossom' and 'The Sick Rose' - to highly elaborate, apocalyptic works, such as The Four Zoas, Milton and Jerusalem. Throughout his life Blake drew on a rich heritage of philosophy, religion and myth, to create a poetic worlds illuminated by his spiritual and revolutionary beliefs that have fascinated, intrigued and enchanted readers for generations.
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O thou, with dewy locks, who lookest down Thro' the clear windows of the morning; turn Thine angel eyes upon our western isle, Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring! Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
O thou, with dewy locks, who lookest down Thro' the clear windows of the morning; turn Thine angel eyes upon our western isle, Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring! Read the first page
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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10 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A Slightly Unattractive Edition of Great Literature
5 Jun 2010
Format:Paperback
*** REVISED 5/12/12 ***
Like the other reviewers here, I love Blake's poetry. From the short poems to the long, I think they're all great and among the best things ever printed in English.
If you're looking for a scholarly edition of Blake, this might be the edition for you. Blake created a complex mythology filled with gods and worlds of his own invention, and that Alicia Ostriker's notes actually help make sense of that mythology is a true feat of scholarship.
But if you're like most readers of Penguin Classics, you're looking for something you can read for enjoyment, and some of the editor's decisions have made enjoyment difficult.
Though beloved shorter poems like the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are just fine, many pages of the longer poems like "America" are marred by extra text in italics and brackets which are supposed to be variants from different versions of the poems. I could see putting these sorts of things in footnotes or endnotes, but they are actually right there in the text itself! You'll be given a stanza of a poem, and then the same stanza in brackets or italics with only minor variations. Here's an example from the beginning of "Four Zoas":
"Lost! Lost! Lost! are my Emanations Enion [come forth]
O Enion
[I am] We are become a Victim to the Living [I] We
hide in secret
I have hidden [thee Enion in Jealous Despair] Jerusalem
in Silent Contrition" etc.
This leaves you wondering which lines you should be reading and which you should be skipping, which occasionally detracts from the poetic experience, or at the very least forces your eye to be darting all over the page. I've never seen this in another Penguin book; I think it was a poor choice here.
Finally, thank you so much to James M. Rawley and Chris for their reasonable and helpful objections to the previous wording of my review. The internet really can be a place for respectful, productive conversation.
Like the other reviewers here, I love Blake's poetry. From the short poems to the long, I think they're all great and among the best things ever printed in English.
If you're looking for a scholarly edition of Blake, this might be the edition for you. Blake created a complex mythology filled with gods and worlds of his own invention, and that Alicia Ostriker's notes actually help make sense of that mythology is a true feat of scholarship.
But if you're like most readers of Penguin Classics, you're looking for something you can read for enjoyment, and some of the editor's decisions have made enjoyment difficult.
Though beloved shorter poems like the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are just fine, many pages of the longer poems like "America" are marred by extra text in italics and brackets which are supposed to be variants from different versions of the poems. I could see putting these sorts of things in footnotes or endnotes, but they are actually right there in the text itself! You'll be given a stanza of a poem, and then the same stanza in brackets or italics with only minor variations. Here's an example from the beginning of "Four Zoas":
"Lost! Lost! Lost! are my Emanations Enion [come forth]
O Enion
[I am] We are become a Victim to the Living [I] We
hide in secret
I have hidden [thee Enion in Jealous Despair] Jerusalem
in Silent Contrition" etc.
This leaves you wondering which lines you should be reading and which you should be skipping, which occasionally detracts from the poetic experience, or at the very least forces your eye to be darting all over the page. I've never seen this in another Penguin book; I think it was a poor choice here.
Finally, thank you so much to James M. Rawley and Chris for their reasonable and helpful objections to the previous wording of my review. The internet really can be a place for respectful, productive conversation.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Unparalleled visionary power
1 Mar 2008
Format:Paperback
Though I firmly support the general consensus that Shakespeare is our greatest poet--the more one reads, the more this becomes apparent--I am equally firm in stating that there has been no greater visionary poet than Blake, not even Milton.
William Blake lived and wrote almost entirely ignored during his time, regarded, if at all, as an eccentric painter. This speaks not to the quality of his works; it speaks to how ahead of his time he was. Nobody knew what to make of him, and I must confess that even now it is difficult to cement his place.
One can say for certain, however, that he is one of the greatest poets; aside from the Bard, Keats (whom I adore), and Milton, he has no companions in this uppermost echelon. Reading Blake is sometimes overwhelming. The power of his vision and the vivacity of his language sometimes overpower the faculties, and makes one nearly break down into tears. His poetry is beautiful; it is complex; it is at times incomparably deep and more powerful in force of language than perhaps any other, even Shakespeare's.
Many restrict their reading of Blake to his accessible and delightful lyrics SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE (which must be read side-by-side to fully appreciate what he is doing!), but to do so is to bind oneself in a nutshell. Read THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, as an introduction into his vast vision. Go on to read THE BOOK OF URIZEN, MILTON, JERUSALEM, etc., but take it slowly. Blake is one of the most difficult poets; he is infinitely complex. He creates his own, metamorphosing mythology, which parallels Biblical mythology and that of Milton, and expounds it throughout his poems. To fully appreciate them, one must not only read, but also study his works. I highly recommend doing so--William Blake is infinitely rewarding.
A note: The Penguin edition reviewed here is good, but, if possible, try to acquire an illustrated copy of Blake's work. Blake wrote most of his great poems in the style of illuminated manuscripts (he is actually the precursor of the graphic novel genre), and his illustrations are profound and beautiful. It seems to be increasingly difficult to acquire his illustrations in book form, so if you cannot, at least view them at blakearchive.org. They are magnificent!
William Blake lived and wrote almost entirely ignored during his time, regarded, if at all, as an eccentric painter. This speaks not to the quality of his works; it speaks to how ahead of his time he was. Nobody knew what to make of him, and I must confess that even now it is difficult to cement his place.
One can say for certain, however, that he is one of the greatest poets; aside from the Bard, Keats (whom I adore), and Milton, he has no companions in this uppermost echelon. Reading Blake is sometimes overwhelming. The power of his vision and the vivacity of his language sometimes overpower the faculties, and makes one nearly break down into tears. His poetry is beautiful; it is complex; it is at times incomparably deep and more powerful in force of language than perhaps any other, even Shakespeare's.
Many restrict their reading of Blake to his accessible and delightful lyrics SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE (which must be read side-by-side to fully appreciate what he is doing!), but to do so is to bind oneself in a nutshell. Read THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, as an introduction into his vast vision. Go on to read THE BOOK OF URIZEN, MILTON, JERUSALEM, etc., but take it slowly. Blake is one of the most difficult poets; he is infinitely complex. He creates his own, metamorphosing mythology, which parallels Biblical mythology and that of Milton, and expounds it throughout his poems. To fully appreciate them, one must not only read, but also study his works. I highly recommend doing so--William Blake is infinitely rewarding.
A note: The Penguin edition reviewed here is good, but, if possible, try to acquire an illustrated copy of Blake's work. Blake wrote most of his great poems in the style of illuminated manuscripts (he is actually the precursor of the graphic novel genre), and his illustrations are profound and beautiful. It seems to be increasingly difficult to acquire his illustrations in book form, so if you cannot, at least view them at blakearchive.org. They are magnificent!
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Sui Generis
6 Aug 2000
Format:Paperback
I don't know upon what planet this poet was born, but it certainly wasn't earth. Blake is the ultimate Gnostic, the ascendent correspondent, the bringer of truth from regions we have no knowledge of. The core of his philosophy can be summed up in his assertion in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:" Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast...Isaiah answer'd. I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in every thing, and as I was then perswaded, & remain confirm'd; that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God."
Blake is the poet of true revolution, true Romanticism and true spirit. This is the definitive volume of his life-work, without, it is true, the illustrations that augmented his genius. Yet there is no real necessity for etchings here, as the genius of his poetry will etch its own image in your mind if you are receptive to his universal symbolism. Blake was the first truly modern poet, prefiguring Mallarme, D.H. Lawrence, Baudelaire, in particular. He was also a great mythologyzer, the precursor of Campbell, Frazier, and even Alan Watts in many respects. The Penguin Edition is not illustrated, it's true, but there is so much to be mined here that one can easily lose oneself in the labyrinth of Blake's excavations.
Recommended without reservations. A truly paradigm shifting poet and artist. Seek out his illustrative, divinely inspired watercolors, as well. A true visionary, if there ever was one!!
BEK
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