Sarah Haggarty

Examines the idea of 'gift-giving' to reassess a wide range of issues in the thought and work of William Blake.

Poetry and the Politics of Exchange

Blake's Gifts

William Blake, poet and artist, is a figure often understood to have 'created his own system'. Combining close readings and detailed analysis of a range of Blake's work, from lyrical songs to later myth, from writing to visual art, this collection of thirty-eight lively and authoritative essays examines what Blake had in common with his contemporaries, the writers who influenced him, and those he influenced in turn. Chapters from an international team of leading scholars also attend to his wider contexts: material, formal, cultural, and historical, to enrich our understanding of, and engagement with, Blake's work. Accessibly written, incisive, and informed by original research, William Blake in Context enables readers to appreciate Blake anew, from both within and outside of his own idiom.

William Blake in Context

Jon A Mee

Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794) is William Blake's best-known work, containing such familiar poems as 'London', 'Sick Rose' and 'The Tyger'. Evolving over the author's lifetime, the collection was printed by Blake himself on his own press. This Reader's Guide: - Explains the unique development of Songs as an illuminated book - Considers the earliest reactions to the text during Blake's lifetime, and his gathering posthumous reputation in the nineteenth century - Explores modern critical approaches and recent debates - Discusses key topics that have been of abiding interest to critics, including the relationship between text and image in Blake's 'composite art' Insightful and stimulating, this introductory guide is an invaluable resource for anyone who is seeking to navigate their way through the mass of criticism surrounding Blake's most widely-studied work.

William Blake - Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Jon Mee

Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794) is William Blake's best-known work, containing such familiar poems as 'London', 'Sick Rose' and 'The Tyger'. Evolving over the author's lifetime, the collection was printed by Blake himself on his own press. This Reader's Guide: • explains the unique development of Songs as an illuminated book • considers the earliest reactions to the text during Blake's lifetime, and his gathering posthumous reputation in the nineteenth century • explores modern critical approaches and recent debates • discusses key topics that have been of abiding interest to critics, including the relationship between text and image in Blake's 'composite art'. Insightful and stimulating, this introductory guide is an invaluable resource for anyone who is seeking to navigate their way through the mass of criticism surrounding Blake's most widely-studied work.

Sarah Haggarty

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