Today's Topics:
Re: guidance
Re: In defense of the Worm - Eden and Beulah
Blake biographies
Any news? -Reply
In case you are still thinking about Buelah . . .
WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: In case you are still thinking about Buelah . . .
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: ROMANTICS?!!!!
Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Re: ROMANTICS?!!!!
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 13:19:51 -0700
From: John Young
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: guidance
Message-Id: <362A4D66.EC7FFB75@popmail.csulb.edu>
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biography: _Blake in the Nineteenth Century_ by Debrah Dorfman or _Life of
William Blake_ by Alexander Gilchrist to name a few.
criticism: see the bibliography of criticism _The English Romantic Poets: A
review of Research and Criticism_ by Frank Jordan. Some of the best
recognized Blekean critics are Northrop Frye, Robert Gleckner, David Erdman,
Robert Essick, Geoffrey Keynes, Martin Nurmi, and Harold Bloom.
Dave & Bev Popely wrote:
> I am an English student at Greenwhich Uni. 2nd year and grappling with
> Blake. I find him an enigmatic poet, fascinating and baffleing. Can anyone
> reccomend a biography apart from Ackroyd's and a/some commenteries on his
> work? Any help would be gratefully received.
>
> Please reply: popely@dircon.co.uk
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 11:45:07 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: In defense of the Worm - Eden and Beulah
Message-Id:
Tom, you ask "if the contraries are to function as contraries, even in
Heaven, must they not
appear (at least to each other, or to their holders) as UNequal in truth-
value? How else could there be "Mental War," any change or
progression?"
I find a running together of, or conflation of, truth and contraries in your
question and , since in my own mind, I separate the two, I see no
problem. I imagine BLake's Eternals conversing and agreeing or
disagreeing over Truth as entirely separate from the fact that all things in
Innocence (comprising both Eden and Beulah, in my opinion) are `clothed'
in contraries, thus manifesting equally, the masculine and feminine
aspects of divinity. I see every form as having a shifiting valency
continually ... in Eden being more fiery, and in Beulah, less so. So, while
all beings create their own idea of PAradise, reflecting the desires of
their own Selves in the creative ether, if they actively dislike what others
create , or the truths upheld by others, they rush away from commingling
essences with such . If, however, by contrast, they admire and love
the beauty and truths manifested by another ETernal, they mingle
essences with the admired entity. In this way, the contraries never
hinder or suborn one individual to another's desire, and there is never
stasis. There is both intellectual warfare, and intellectual agreement,
and so both peace and progression are possible.
I do see Eden and Beulah as COntraries, but in contradistinction to many
(if not all?) critics, I see them as being complementary to one another,
except where Beulah darkens to such a degree that it shades into Ulro
or a state of fallenness where the Selfhood no longer is continually
annihilated and rediscovered - and the flux and transcience of being
becomes replaces by permanent forms and bodies. This is why I
cannot agree with critics who jeer at Thel for fleeing back from the
lowest verges of Beulah back to Innocence. She was tempted to
descend into SElfhood as she wandered (like Lyca) far from `home' and
succumbed to the torpor and sluggishness of the soul which can beset
those in Beulah where there are varying degrees of `Repose' - the
contrary of the fiery energies of Eden.
It is not possible to speak of `Experience' in Eternity as far as my own
research leads me to perceive what Blake meant by this term.
And, no, I don't favour Beulah above Eden or think that Blake did so.
Both Energy and Repose are necessary conditions for the soul ... but to
fall too deeply into SLeep is to risk forgetting the divine vision of love in
which all participate in divine brotherhood and sisterhood and erotic
encounters ... all without needing to hurt any other, since
agreement/disagreement, expansion/contraction, unity/diversity are all
accommodated in the equal flow of the tides between Eden and Beulah.
That is, each individual, no matter how seemingly insignificant, creates
his/her own ideal of beauty, truth .... the most perfect freedom and
happiness is thereby achieved.
Thanks for asking the sort of question which could possibly lie at the
heart of the acrid dissensions which erupt online.
Pam
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 14:24:09 +0100
From: stavis@coco.ihi.ku.dk
To: popely@dircon.co.uk
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake biographies
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981019142409.007cd620@coco.ihi.ku.dk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
You request Blake biographies other than Ackroyd. There is one written by
Nurmi and another by Mona Wilson. I don't have the exact bibliographies but
they should be fairly easy to track down. Both are, however, considerably
older than the Ackroyd biography.
Henriette
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 13:02:21 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Any news? -Reply
Message-Id:
Patricia,
I was very glad to see that you are inviting people working on books on
Blake to provide a brief outline of their projects for your newsletter.
I have tried below to present, very informally, and in ex tempore fashion,
the contents of a `book' I wrote some time ago, but for which I 've not
yet done much about finding a publisher .
This book, provisionaly entitled, "Such Sublime Conceptions" explores
correspondences between Blake's vision of the Fall and Redemption of
man and the ideas expounded by a series of thinkers who conttributed
to the Jewish mystical tradition of the Kabbalah.
In Chapter One, entitled "The 'Tree of Life' and Universal 'Man on High' ",
I explore the ways in which Blake's evocation of Eden and Beulah ,
where all of God's Children live in unity in Innocence, relates to the
Kabbalistic "radiances" of the Tree of Life. For example, possible
correspondences between Blake's Jesus and Jerusalem and the
"Upper Father" (Hokhmah) and "Upper Mother" (Binah) are explored,
particularly in relation to imagery relating to the divine marriage in which
the masculine and feminie aspects of God are united in perfect harmony.
Blake's four zoas are then discussed in relation to the qualities
represented by other "radiances", or Sefiroth, on the Tree of LIfe,
focusing in particular on interesting parallels between unfallen Urizen,
Albion's Prince of Intellect, and "Din", representing the power of Divine
Judgment in Kabbalah, as, in Chapter Two, entitled "The Inversion of the
'Tree of Life', the ways in which the `contraction' of both of these
contributes to the Fall is fully explored. Urizen's casting of Jerusalem
out of Albion as a 'harlot' is related to the kabbalists' vision of the first
sin when Adam, `deceived by the serpent of false knowledge' separates
the Shekhinah from the other Sefiroth. Also, correspondences between
Urizen's insistence on moral law and the kabbalistic view of evil
arising from an imbalance between god's divine mercy and rigour are
explored. Blake's consistent use of the imagery of boulders and rocks
in relation to Urizen and the fallen world he creates, is related to similar
images evocative of a tragic divine contraction in Lurianic Kabbalah.
Similarly, images of the closing and desolation of Jerusalem's `Gates',
the building of Babylon, and the breaking of God's vessels of light and
the imprisonment of the scattered light in `shells' of matter, in both
cosmogonies, are also explored.
In Chapter Three, entitled "The Gathering of the Scattered Divine Sparks",
the laments of Albion's Emanations, and their nostalgia for the joys of
the past in Eden and Beulah, is discussed as a prelude to showing how
Los's sustained labours at his Furnaces may be related to kabbalistic
imagery of the `coal' , `flames' and the `Kings of Edom' being in a state
'Judgment without Mercy' and the `six days of formative creation'
during which six imperfect worlds are moulded into better form. Los,
Albion's Prince of Imagination, is identified as the Blacksmith figure of the
poem, "Tyger" and as seeking to create a better world than the
imperfect ones formerly created by Urizen and Albion's other fallen
Zoas. ... a world more like that in which Jesus and Jerusalem were
revered and honoured. He is seen as endeavouring to break with his
Hammer of Mercy, and the assistance of his redeemed Emanation and
the inspiration of Christ, the ugly dogmas and forms (the `shells of
deformity' ) created by the fallen vision of Urizen. His efforts are related
to the kabbalistic vision of `teshuba', the repentance necessary to the
upliftment of the divine sparks and their restoration to integrity within the
Eternal Man, Adam Kadmon.
Chapter Four deals with how Los and Orc bring about the Apocalypse
in which Urizen's vision is recognised as delusory and all of God's
children are freed from their bondage in the `shells of matter' . Orc's
dissipation of the 'Shadowy Female' by fructifying her `Furrows' with
his fiery `Lightnings', so restoring the desert wilderness to fruitful
`Gardens of Love' is related to kabbalistic imagery of male and female
copulation and orgasm. The restoration of Jerusalem to her former
state of beauty and glory is related to the kabbalistic idea of the "Grand
Jubilee".
In the final Chapter, I try to point out similarities between Hasidic thought
and some of Blake's ideas and explore the possibility that Blake's
evidently detailed knowledge of Kabbalistic symbolism as well as
underlying philosophy regarding the creation of a fallen world by a fallen
demiurge could have been inspired by awareness of the contents of the
Zohar, Lurianic Kabbalah, as well as Hasidism.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:36:43 -0400
From: Robert Anderson
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: In case you are still thinking about Buelah . . .
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19981020103643.00b46510@pop.oakland.edu>
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At 02:48 PM 10/16/1998 EDT, you wrote:
>Pam-
>Thanks for your answers to my questions. And, of course, here are some more
>questions as a result.
>
>I still suspect your description fits Blake's Beulah, that "pleasant lovely
>shadow/Where no dispute can come" (Milton, 30:2-3 (Erdman text)), better than
>it fits his Eden. Here's why.
>
>You write,
>>To restore balance to the equation while we are on earth is to
>>remove the Negation and restore it to its functional, contrary status
>>where `contrarieties are equally true' and serve a mutually useful
>>purpose.
>
>It is Beulah that is described (Milton, 30:1) as a place where `contrarieties
>are equally true'; which, I suppose, is why "no dispute can come" there. But
>if the contraries are to function as contraries, even in Heaven, must they
not
>appear (at least to each other, or to their holders) as UNequal in truth-
>value? How else could there be "Mental War," any change or progression?
>
>For in Eden, as described in _Milton_, there are disputes. Eden (as
described
>in the same passage) is the place where:
>
> As the breath of the Almighty, such are the words of man to man
> In the great Wars of Eternity, in fury of Poetic Inspiration,
> To build the Universe stupendous: Mental forms Creating.
>
>This is the aspect that I miss in your description.
>
>Eden and Beulah, as described in this passage from _Milton_, are a pair of
>contraries like Experience and Innocence, and quite explicitly described as
>masculine and feminine realms, respectively. The life of Blake's Eternity
>seems to be an alternation between them, or a combination of them.
>
>You began your posting with the statement,
>>I have always understood that there are Contraries in Innocence in Eternity
>
>"Innocence in Eternity" is concept I have never come across; but, if Beulah
>and Eden are indeed like Innocence and Experience, would "Innocence in
>Eternity" not be a good description of Beulah? And then could "Experience in
>Eternity" describe Eden?
>
>That is to say, How do you fit the "fury," the "great Wars of Eternity," into
>your picture? Blake's description of Eden (in the passage I quote above)
>seems different in tone from your description of "all things... continually
>intermingling in the... ardours of love, in imitation of the holy unions of
>Jesus and Jerusalem." Not that your description is unBlakean, or unsupported
>by Blake's texts about Eternity, but I am still feeling that your
description,
>as far as I understand it, omits the more fiery, more conflictual (?) side of
>Blake's vision in favor of the more Beulah-like side.
>
>--Tom Devine
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 07:38:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ralph Dumain
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19981020103545.40af33b2@pop.igc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I couldn't get to sleep last night burning with curiosity about Klopstock.
The only reference book I found that even mentioned him was Damon's Blake
dictionary, which had a meager paragraph that only engorged the pique of my
curiosity. Klopstock supposedly wrote some epic poem that Blake didn't
like, likening K's God to Noboddaddy (as in my favorite shite poem). But I
still don't know shite from shinola about Mr. K. Who was this guy? Was he
part of German Romanticism? What was his philosophy? Can his philosophy
and/or the characteristics of his poetry be likened to various exemplars of
German Romanticism? Could Blake's presumed aversion to Mr. K be
extrapolated to carry over to other German poets he didn't get a chance to
read? This is what I want Kenneth Starr to investigate.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:01:06 -0400
From: Robert Anderson
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: In case you are still thinking about Buelah . . .
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19981020110105.00a5435c@pop.oakland.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Oops, I apologize. I meant to send this to a colleague who was tracking
down a connection between Cather and Blake.
Rob Anderson
At 10:36 AM 10/20/1998 -0400, you wrote:
>At 02:48 PM 10/16/1998 EDT, you wrote:
>>Pam-
>>Thanks for your answers to my questions. And, of course, here are some more
>>questions as a result.
>>
>>I still suspect your description fits Blake's Beulah, that "pleasant lovely
>>shadow/Where no dispute can come" (Milton, 30:2-3 (Erdman text)), better
than
>>it fits his Eden. Here's why.
>>
>>You write,
>>>To restore balance to the equation while we are on earth is to
>>>remove the Negation and restore it to its functional, contrary status
>>>where `contrarieties are equally true' and serve a mutually useful
>>>purpose.
>>
>>It is Beulah that is described (Milton, 30:1) as a place where
`contrarieties
>>are equally true'; which, I suppose, is why "no dispute can come" there.
But
>>if the contraries are to function as contraries, even in Heaven, must they
>not
>>appear (at least to each other, or to their holders) as UNequal in truth-
>>value? How else could there be "Mental War," any change or progression?
>>
>>For in Eden, as described in _Milton_, there are disputes. Eden (as
>described
>>in the same passage) is the place where:
>>
>> As the breath of the Almighty, such are the words of man to man
>> In the great Wars of Eternity, in fury of Poetic Inspiration,
>> To build the Universe stupendous: Mental forms Creating.
>>
>>This is the aspect that I miss in your description.
>>
>>Eden and Beulah, as described in this passage from _Milton_, are a pair of
>>contraries like Experience and Innocence, and quite explicitly described as
>>masculine and feminine realms, respectively. The life of Blake's Eternity
>>seems to be an alternation between them, or a combination of them.
>>
>>You began your posting with the statement,
>>>I have always understood that there are Contraries in Innocence in Eternity
>>
>>"Innocence in Eternity" is concept I have never come across; but, if Beulah
>>and Eden are indeed like Innocence and Experience, would "Innocence in
>>Eternity" not be a good description of Beulah? And then could
"Experience in
>>Eternity" describe Eden?
>>
>>That is to say, How do you fit the "fury," the "great Wars of Eternity,"
into
>>your picture? Blake's description of Eden (in the passage I quote above)
>>seems different in tone from your description of "all things... continually
>>intermingling in the... ardours of love, in imitation of the holy unions of
>>Jesus and Jerusalem." Not that your description is unBlakean, or
unsupported
>>by Blake's texts about Eternity, but I am still feeling that your
>description,
>>as far as I understand it, omits the more fiery, more conflictual (?)
side of
>>Blake's vision in favor of the more Beulah-like side.
>>
>>--Tom Devine
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:57:16 EDT
From: TomD3456@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <788deb6.362cf92c@aol.com>
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Ralph-
According to the secondary sources I once read, Klopstock was a major German
poet of Blake's day, whose epic "Messiah" was considered a rival to "Paradise
Lost."
Hopefully, you'll soon get fuller responses from people who really KNOW
Klopstock and/or German lit. history.
--Tom Devine
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 18:40:33 -0500
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <98102018403380@wc.stephens.edu>
Friedrich Klopstock (1742-1803) was greatly admired during the latter
half of the 18th century for his "sublime" odes and his _Messias_,
an "epic" of the life of the Messiah. David B. Morris, in _The
Religious Sublime_, tells us that he was included among the
"sentimentalists" who transformed the concept of the sublime to
"appeal to the sentiments of the heart, not to the disquisitions of
the head." He goes on to say:
"The religious poetry of the sentimentalists defies a sympathetic reading;
yet, in order to demonstrate how men of feeling transformed the sublime,
two typical instances deserve some comment. The first reflects a
little-known aspect of later eighteenth-century culture: that is,
the curious taste among English readers for certain kinds of
German religious literature. To judge from current English periodicals,
the most popular of those writing in German were Johann Bodmer (1698-1783),
the Swiss poet, critic, and translator of _Paradise Lost_, who greatly
influenced eighteenth-century German verse; Salomon Gessner (1730-1788)
also Swiss, whose _Der Tod Abels_ (1758) was translated in to English
in 1761; [and was the preceder of Blake's Ghost of Abel and Byron's
Cain, among other works] and Friedrich Klopstock (1724-1803), whose
_Messias_ appeared in an English translation beginning in 1763.
By 1772 the _Monthly Review_ would report that the work of Bodmer,
Gessner, and Klopstock had 'met with success in this country.' It
s success has something to do with English interest in sentimental
sublimity.
. . . Joseph Collyer, the translator, lost not time in advsing English
readers of the 'amazing sublimity' of Klopstock's poem. . . .
Klopstock's remarks [in his essay, "On Divine Poetry"] hover about
a single theme: the sublime poet must touch 'the tender feelings of
the heart' and give 'strong emotions to the soul.' 'Doing this
by the force of religion,' he asserted, 'is a new species of the sublime.'
(Morris, 156-157) -- and so on.
Coleridge actually visited Klopstock near the end of Klopstock's life
and provides a description of his disillusionment at the meeting in
_The Friend, No. 18_. "The Poet entered. I was much disappointed
in his countenance, and recognized in it no likeness to the Bust. There
was no comprehension in the forehead, no weight over the eyebrows, no
expression of peculiarity, moral or intellectual on the eyes, no
massiveness in the general countenancy. He is if anything rather
below the middle size. . . . though neither B___ nor myself could
discover any indications of sublimity or enthusiasm in his
physiognomy, we were both equally impressed with his liveliness,
and his kind and steady courtesy. He talked in French with my Friend,
and with difficulty spoke a few sentences to me in English. His
enunciation was not in the least affected by the entire want of his
upper teeth. . . . the subject changed to Literature and I enquired
in Latin concerning the History of German Poetry and the elder German
Poets. To my great astonishment he confessed that he knew very little
on the subject. He had indeed occasionally read one or two of their
elder Writers, but not so as to enable him to speak of their merits.
. . . He then talked of Milton and Glover, and thought Glover's
blank verse superior to Milton's. B--- and I expressed our surprise
. . . He appeared to know very little of Milton or indeed of our Poets
in general. . . . I intended to translate a few of his Odes as
specimens of German Lyrics--he then said to me in English 'I wish
you would render into English some select passages of the Messiah
and revenge me of your Countrymen.' It ws the liveliest thing
which he produced in the whole convesation. He told us that his first
Ode was fifty years older than his last. I looked at him with much
emotion--I conisdered him as the venerable Father of German Poetry;
as a good Man; as a Christian; seventy-four years old; with
legs enormously swoln; yet active, lively, chearful, and kind, and
communicative. My eyes felt as if a tear were swelling into them.
In the Portrait of Lessing there was a Toupee Periwig which enormously
injured the effect of his Phisiognomy--Klopstock wore the same,
powdered and frizzled. By the bye, old Men ought never to wear
powder--the contrst between a large snow-white wig and the color of an
old man's skin is disgusting, and wrinkles in such a neighbourhood
appear only channels for dirt. It is an honour to Poets and Great
Men that you think of them as parts of Nature; and anything of
trick and fashion wounds you in them, as much as when you see
venerable Yews clipped into miserable peacocks. The Author of
the Messiah should have worn his own grey hair. -- His Powder and
Periwig were to the eye what Mr. Virgil would be to the ear."
(This is from volume 2 of _The Friend_ edited by Barbara Rooke as
part of the Collected Works of STC, Princeton U. Press, 1969).
I probably owe an apology for this lengthy response to the question;
it is likely more than anyone wants to know about Klopstock,
but Morris's comments probably illuminate the reasons for
Blake's eruption, since Blake was surely never a sentimentalist
and never in doubt about his concept of the sublime. The
Coleridge passage is just a snippet from the fascinating
and so typical discussion of the visit to Klopstock, complete
with Coleridgean digressions and evasions. (The "B" of the
text was Wordsworth, of course.) Keeping in mind that
Klopstock was quite near death at the time of the visit,
the description may well seem unkind and unfair (certainly
not-PC), but we notice that Coleridge rescues himself by
offering positives to balance what appear to a modern
reader to be catty remarks, and on balance the discussion
remains admiring of Klopstock, though he concludes that insofar
as Klopstock might claim to be a modern Milton, he is "a
very German Milton," not exactly a compliment.
I might add that Blake was not incapable of jealousy, and the
appearance of a foreign work admired for its religious sublimity
would very well have stirred his sense of artistic precedence
as well as his personal form of patriotism.
Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 22:00:00 -0500
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <98102022000022@wc.stephens.edu>
One more detail--Klopstock was definitely not included as a German
Romantic--though he lived into the period of English High Romanticism,
but that only reinforces the reminder that "romantic" does not
apply equally at all times in all relevant countries--not at all.
Klopstock is included in the German "Sturm und Drang" group (which,
if a comparable term existed in England, might have been approprite
for Blake, as well, but I will back off instantly from discussing
that idea); "sturm und drang" sort of *looks* romantic (and includes,
to some extent, Beethoven, for example) but is treated separately.
Enough. Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 08:16:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ralph Dumain
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19981021111328.403ff13a@pop.igc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Thanks for the poop on Klopstock. Also the important detail of where he
fits into Romanticism, not. Not having ever read a single syllable of Sturm
und Drang (sounds like a drain cleaner), I have no idea what this kind of
literature is like, other than having heard about Young Werther's gnarly
suicidal adventure. I'm curious about the form and content of Mr. K's sort
of poetry and how it would compare to Blake's imperatives. Blake seems to
have a lot more going on than the kind of stuff the German Romantics wrote,
with their abstract obsessions with the Beyond; and Klopstock's work, esp.
if it fit into larger German trends, could serve as a jumping off point for
Blake-German comparisons.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 09:10:34 -0400
From: Paul Hume
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
Message-Id: <362DDD4A.4935@lan2wan.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Tom and all -
> Klopstock is included in the German "Sturm und Drang" group (which,
> if a comparable term existed in England, might have been approprite
> for Blake, as well, but I will back off instantly from discussing
> that idea); "sturm und drang" sort of *looks* romantic (and includes,
> to some extent, Beethoven, for example) but is treated separately.
Klopstock is referenced, for example, in a pivotal (and if one is in a
cynical mood, hilarious) scene in the novel that almost defined sturm
und drang. Goethe's "Sorrows o the Young Werther,' in which the title
character turns to his (never-to-be-won) lady love as they look out over
a breathtakingly beautiful scene, and murmurs the word: "Klopstock,"
whereupon the two dissolve into tears together.
There is a brief exposition on the poet in following text, but Goethe
took his work to be so widely known by his readers and so doesn't give
that much background...to the point where a late 20th century college
student reading the piece in one of those damned "Survey of the Novel"
courses (me) was rather baffled by it in 1970.
Paul
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 21:39:13 +0000
From: nej@ndirect.co.uk
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: ROMANTICS?!!!!
Message-Id: <199810212039.VAA29677@andromeda.hosts.netdirect.net.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Hello......err.....Can anybody give me some information about the
"Romantics......"??? Which writers fit into this category???
Urgent!!!!! I might need to talk about this at an interview!!!!!
Thanks in advance!!!!!
Neil Erik
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 16:43:40
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: WHO WAS KLOPSTOCK?
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>From Gilchrist's _Life of William Blake_ Vol.1:
"...in an extract from Hayley's _Diary_, we again get
sight of Blake for a moment:
26th and 29th of March, 1803 -- 'Read the death of
Klopstock in the newspaper of the day, and looked into
his _Messiah_, both the original and the translation.
Read Klopstock into English to Blake , and translated
the opening of his third canto, where he speaks of his
own death.'
Hayley was at this time trying to learn German,
'finding that it contained a poem on the Four Ages of
Woman,' of which he, 'for some time, made it a rule to
translate a few lines' daily; finding also, by the
arrival of presentation copies in the alien tongue,
that three of his own works had been translated into
German: the _Essay on Old Maids_, the _Life of Milton_,
and the _Triumphs of Temper_. O Time! eater of man
and books, what has become of these translations?"
So far, Gilchrist.
While in Felpham, Blake eventually made 18 portraits of
famous authors for Hayley's library, and one of these
was of Klopstock (from a design by Hayley's son Tom,
who had died early in 1800).
Izak Bouwer
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Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 00:50:23 EDT
From: Aus3@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: ROMANTICS?!!!!
Message-Id: <5769f782.362eb98f@aol.com>
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The romantics were william blake, william wordsworth, samuel coleridge, and
percy shelley to name a few. The period takes place between the years of
1785-1830. Romantics were interested in love of nature in and of itself
(wordsworth), political reasons such as the abuse of children during the
industrialization of england (blake) and (coleridge). Percy Shelley also was
politically inclined with the Irish Movement. They (romantics) were
interested in demonstrating beliefs in the supernatural such as coleridge in
the eve of st. agnes and kubla khan. Individualism, striving, and
noncomformity were also a romantic goal. Also experimenting with different
forms of writing became to in this period.
I hope this will help you out a little. If I can help more let me know.
Elizabeth Burton
UT British Literature Major
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End of blake-d Digest V1998 Issue #79
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