- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press; New edition edition (11 April 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0300100302
- ISBN-13: 978-0300100303
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
232,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #79 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Poetry
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Review
"Everyone who loves Blake will be grateful to have, at last, a thoroughly reliable, fully documented and closely detailed life of him. It is an unlooked-for bonus that the book is beautifully designed." Grevel Lindop, Times Literary Supplement "Bentley affectionately and authoritatively renders the life of the artist who's now considered less madman than visionary. Via Blake's writings and drawings, records of his intimates, and thorough treatments of artworks, Bentley evokes something of the whole man - an eccentric genius who saw the world as a product of personal imagination." Publishers Weekly "Certain to become the standard biography of Blake." Choice "A masterful monument having some of the energy and irresistible authority of Blake himself." Tom D'Evelyn, The Providence Sunday Journal "A splendid account and a fitting capstone to Bentley's lifetime of Blake scholarship." FIRST THINGS
Publishers Weekly
"Bentley affectionately and authoritatively renders the life of the artist who’s now considered less madman than visionary. Via Blake’s writings and drawings, records of his intimates, and thorough treatments of artworks, Bentley evokes something of the whole man - an eccentric genius who saw the world as a product of personal imagination."
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First Sentence
William Blake's Christian life began in grandeur and glory when he was christened at the noble marble baptismal font in the majestic new parish church of St James's, Westminster. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
William Blake's Christian life began in grandeur and glory when he was christened at the noble marble baptismal font in the majestic new parish church of St James's, Westminster. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a gem of a book for anyone interested in Blake. It is comprehensive, well written, and covers all aspects of his life, art, and background in an interesting way. Even if your interest in Blake is one of mere curiosity, you will get a lot out of this book. Its profuse illustrations are impressive, with 136 (yes, one-hundred-and-thirty-six) plates, mostly in colour, and many more illustrations besides. The author's technique of breaking the main chapters down into small, self-contained sections is also ideal for anyone wanting to browse. I cannot recommend this strongly enough. It is absolutely first class.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As the first reviewer noted, this is the oustanding biography of William Blake.
The fruit of the work of a lifetime by one of the greatest of all of Blake scholars, it manages to be extremely detailed and thorough, while being eminently readable. It is both affectionate towards its subject while being critically exacting and helpful in its judgments. Its superiority over other biographies of Blake, such as Ackroyd's, largely relies in its scrupulous attention to primary sources, Bentley's determination to avoid too much critical speculation on Blake based on interpretations of his texts where corroborating primary evidence from Blake's life is slight and an extremely firm sense of the historical period and the geographical location in which the poet and painter worked. Bentley has no special position on Blake in this book and therefore no thesis to advance as such, though there are many other books available presenting speculations about Blake and his work which may or may not be true of course. Bentley seldom strays outside of the fact as we know them while noting that there is so much about Blake we do not know and perhaps never will.
Short of some new factual discovery which changes what we know of Blake definitively, it is hard to see this book being bettered for a very long time. If you are studing Blake's work, then this isn't a work of criticism and does not discuss the many and varied interpretations of his poetry and art in detail, nor does it claim to be anything else than a biography. However, the facts are fascinating enough to create an enthralling narrative of the life one of the greatest and strangest figures in British culture.
The fruit of the work of a lifetime by one of the greatest of all of Blake scholars, it manages to be extremely detailed and thorough, while being eminently readable. It is both affectionate towards its subject while being critically exacting and helpful in its judgments. Its superiority over other biographies of Blake, such as Ackroyd's, largely relies in its scrupulous attention to primary sources, Bentley's determination to avoid too much critical speculation on Blake based on interpretations of his texts where corroborating primary evidence from Blake's life is slight and an extremely firm sense of the historical period and the geographical location in which the poet and painter worked. Bentley has no special position on Blake in this book and therefore no thesis to advance as such, though there are many other books available presenting speculations about Blake and his work which may or may not be true of course. Bentley seldom strays outside of the fact as we know them while noting that there is so much about Blake we do not know and perhaps never will.
Short of some new factual discovery which changes what we know of Blake definitively, it is hard to see this book being bettered for a very long time. If you are studing Blake's work, then this isn't a work of criticism and does not discuss the many and varied interpretations of his poetry and art in detail, nor does it claim to be anything else than a biography. However, the facts are fascinating enough to create an enthralling narrative of the life one of the greatest and strangest figures in British culture.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
52 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Bentley's Generous Act
25 Jun 2001
Format:Hardcover
The scholarship that works through this book is obviously one of love and devotion of many many years. Bentley's sorting out of events in Blake's life is amazingly well researched - it is the first Blake biography that does not have that usual blur of focus that leaves one more mystified than enlightened. Blake's contemporaries, friends, enemies, patrons, etc. are all given voice through their own extant letters, articles . . - this contextualizes him beautifully and clears the field of critical debris that has grown out over the centuries. In fact, it is Bentley's sober critical eye (of fairness) which is so refreshing - his sense of balance is impeccable. Only a lifetime lover of Blake could hit so consistently true tones. But if you're arriving to this book looking for critical scholarship of the work and myth than you're walking through the wrong door. This book is not about the minutae of the work (see Northrop Frye for that) - it assumes already that one is also a lover and "understander" of the work. This book is about the man - written and informed, of course, by the man's work, but is a book about Blake's life - not a treatise on Urthona. Yes, I recommend this book. Walk on in and stroll around.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Extraordinary and Moving
9 May 2008
Format:Paperback
A terrific book. This is the best biography of Blake that I know of, and is also one of the most encouraging books I have read in years. Bentley sews together contemporary reports, journals from Blake's friends, and Blake's poems and drawings themselves to form a mysterious--although moving--picture of the man. Blake, upon moving back to the Thames, one day opened his window and reported that he saw the filthy river moving along 'like a gold bar.' From his early years, he claimed to have visions of fairies and angels, and later in life even was able to see William Wallace and Satan (the sketches are included in the book). I know of nothing like Blake, and would give this outstanding biography of him six stars.
14 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Body Electric
5 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
This is a very good, straight-forward biography of a mysterious man. Anyone curious about Blake should read it. People who love Blake will still love him, their love enhanced by the very clear context given to the events of his life. Of the visions that are of course the oddest thing about Blake, at least to the vast majority of us who don't have them, the author is neutral. You can't really know. I'm personally for rather than against visionaries even if they are delusional, just because this is indeed the age of fiberglass. Someone said of Blake that he was cracked, but the Light came through the crack. I like to believe he was visited by Milton, Michaelangelo and William Wallace, etc., and that he saw trees full of angels. At the same time, there is a question about the nature of inspiration. Once established, Blake's style in poetry and painting never changed much, only the subjects changed: so the various spirits did nothing in the way of altering his method, nor did they alter his views much, though he seems to have mellowed somewhat. He seems to have been a channel for one Spirit who changed form. There are other artists who seem to me to have represented the world beyond in a more profound way: Bach, Milton, Michaelangelo, Wordsworth for example. And of course, Shakespeare seems to have had a 100 people's combined understanding of how life is. And there are artists, more like us, who seemed to have developed as life progressed.
Still, he was one of the men who lived for and frequently in the electric blessing that changes everything, that power, gift, the angels, like Cupid, seem to bestow as they choose. Blake was a vehicle.
He was the great Outsider artist. He was a Hero of poor England. Thank God for Blake who said, "I live in a hole here, but God has a beautiful mansion for me elsewhere." He was authentic, poor and a real man. Everyone should know how he died singing Hallelujahs and hymns of praise.
Still, he was one of the men who lived for and frequently in the electric blessing that changes everything, that power, gift, the angels, like Cupid, seem to bestow as they choose. Blake was a vehicle.
He was the great Outsider artist. He was a Hero of poor England. Thank God for Blake who said, "I live in a hole here, but God has a beautiful mansion for me elsewhere." He was authentic, poor and a real man. Everyone should know how he died singing Hallelujahs and hymns of praise.
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