The Cambridge Companion to William Blake (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

Description

Poet, painter, and engraver William Blake died in 1827 in obscure poverty with few admirers. The attention paid today to his remarkable poems, prints, and paintings would have astonished his contemporaries. Admired for his defiant, uncompromising creativity, he has become one of the most anthologized and studied writers in English and one of the most studied and collected British artists. His urge to cast words and images into masterpieces of revelation has left us with complex, forceful, extravagant, some times bizarre works of written and visual art that rank among the greatest challenges to plain understanding ever created. This Companion aims to provide guidance to Blake's work in fresh and readable introductions: biographical, literary, art historical, political, religious, and bibliographical. Together with a chronology, guides to further reading, and glossary of terms, they identify the key points of departure into Blake's multifarious world and work. Review: Five Stars - One of the best introductions to/explanation of Blake. Review: A rock-solid academic resource - The companions are good starting points for any academic work and this book is no exception. There are more detailed sources but it's hard to go wrong using a Cambridge Companion as a starting point. The most significant disappointment with this book is that it rather glosses over Blake's Urizen trilogy.