William Blake And The Romantic Period Essay, Research Paper

William Blake lived from 1757-1827. He based most of his works in the style of Romanticism. Much like William Wordsworth, Blake wrote from the heart, letting natural expression take over. Many of the writers of the Romantic period felt they had entered an imaginative climate, which some of them called ?the Spirit Age.? During this ?Spirit Age,? many authors felt that freedom and spontaneity were the key elements in poetry. Before this creative revolution, a poem was considered a classical work of art, assimilated to please an audience. In Romanticism, the ?rules? hanging over poetry were dropped and a piece of work could become, as Blake described, ?an embodiment of the poet?s imagine vision.? Blake used these free-formed ideas and concepts in his later works. These essays, All Religions Are One, There is No Natural Religion (a), and There is No Natural Religion (b), all show Blake?s views against Christian Orthodox, religion based on ancient scripture and against ?Natural Religion,? the belief that God is as natural organism, much like man. Blake was opposed to the idea that God is only what the church believes him to be but he was also opposed to the notion that God was here before we were. Blake believed that man?s ?Poetic Genius,? or imagination helped create the God of today.

Many of the writers of the Romantic period were highly influenced by the war between England and France and the French Revolution. During the war, Blake was faced with charges of ?speaking against his King and country.? People of this era felt his works tested the boundaries of good art. Many of the other writers of this time also challenged previously accepted ideas. Mary Wollstonecroft wrote ?A Vindication of the Rights of Women.? Her work stood up against the female stereotypes and preconceived notions about women. In the midst of all these changes, Blake too was inspired to write against these ancient ideas. All Religions Are One, There is No Natural Religion (a), and There is No Natural Religion (b) were composed in hopes of bringing change to the public?s spiritual life.

Blake felt that, unlike most people, his spiritual life was varied, free and dramatic. Growing up he had no formal education. At the age of ten he joined a drawing school and later studied for a short time at a prestigious art school, the Royal Academy of the Arts. From this point in his life, art had the strongest influence. Later on, his work diminished and he went to a friend who was an artist, William Haley, for help. Haley attempted to change Blake?s free art into conventional and breadwinning art. Blake soon rebelled, calling Haley the enemy of his spiritual life. After all of this, he began to write poetry, hoping to revive his free expression and flow. He wrote three works around 1788, to illustrate his views on religion, All Religions Are One, There is No Natural Religion (a), and There is No Natural Religion (b). He wrote All Religions Are One directed against Deism or ?Natural Religion? and against Christian Orthodoxy. Blake felt that God is not a natural or organic being, he is a creation of man?s imagination or ?Poetic Genius.? He states that ?The Jewish and Christian Testaments are an original derivation from the Poetic Genius,? supporting his theory that man has imagined God. In There is No Natural Religion (a), he speaks against the argument that man naturally perceives God. He states that the desires and perceptions of man are not natural or organic, but are things taught to us. In the end, Blake reminds us that is all things in this world were accepted as ?natural,? then ?the Philosophic and Experimental would soon be at the ratio of all things, and stand still unable to do other than repeat the same dull round over again.? We as humans, are too dependent upon acceptance and not enough on independence. In There is No Natural Religion (b), Blake tries to persuade his audience that our knowledge is not limited to the physical sense, it is free and unbounded, much like Blake?s ideal spiritual life.