Blake Books

This book contains a wealth of information. It is a little different from the birding guides I have previously used in that it is not a "go here, see this" format. However, the author is very thorough and knowledgeable. Each county is well covered. I just got back from Nova Scotia and it was my "bible".

If you own an AR15 or an M16, this is a must have for your library. It dispells the myths surrounding this weapon system and addresses the issues that arose during its dvelopment.

The editor of this collection Northrop Frye explains in his introductory essay that the true Blake is not the mad, mystic devoid of connection with his own place and time, that he has often been made out to be. Frye writes that Blake was very much a product of the darker half of the Enlightentment, that his opposing of the social evils of his time was a strong one.
Frye also collects in this volume essays about Blake's most popular literary work, "The Songs of Innocence and Experience" while at the same time giving time and attention to the longer, prophetic works. In one essay Harold Bloom gives an explication of 'The Four Zoas' And in an essay of his own Frye shows how the longer poems relate to, and in a sense evolve out of the shorter ones.
Frye sees Blake as professional graphic artist and illustrator, and as amateur poet, as one whose work touches many different realms of being. He sees him as a great artist- poet whose work will continue to fascinate mankind in the future ahead.

People who cultivate the ability to express hyperbolic truths ought to be interested in this collection of scholarly reflections on the work of William Blake. Back in 1790-1793, Blake produced THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, an idea so rancid that it might be compared to finding Hosea's wife in a city named Saint Paul. In this age of modern conveniences, smart shoppers are like cooks who prefer to find such ideas separated into rolls and placed side by side in a well greased pan, and publishers have found authors who are willing and able to accomplish this over and over, so that a well stocked library will offer many books on shelves that are hardly large enough to hold volumes of the size that makes Blake's art appear most splendid. Most of the pictures shown in this work are black and white, but a few in color blaze with life.

Large books are often great monuments to tremendous sources of inspiration, and old studies of fields in which academic interest has been high can offer a wealth of knowledge that smaller books could only hint at. A work like BLAKE AND TRADITION by Kathleen Raine, illustrated with numerous examples of pictures that depict the most stirring examples of Blake's imagination, including "The symbolic representation of the female genitals as a shrine or chapel" on page 196 of Volume One, is packed full of the things that any thinking member of modern society needs to be highly aware of just to keep up with everything that is going on. I shouldn't have to say too much about this. The directions on the rolls say: do not over bake.

This book the "Blake House" is one of the best written book i have ever read. This book is not for senitive readers or children under the age of sixteen. The graphic's even though it is a book there is foul subject matter. If you enjoy horror books this is the on you should read.

While at once this book is another photo book of perfect specimans of man, there is an undercurrent of feelings. Silent feelings emoting pleasure, pain and anger, love, frustration and beauty. The silent theatre presented here goes beyond the usual photographs of men. The photos themselves are pure and perfect ,but, Mr. Little has managed to pull something else from these images ...emotion. The book itself is very well presented and unusual in it's format. But, it is the pictures and the stories behind them. Using minimal props he has transformed men into voices. We will all find ourselves somewhere in these pages.

A simple song of William Blake
contains an apple and a snake
and he who dares to bite inside
will rage a fire of fratricide.

A simple song of William Blake
contains a whisper and a stream
and he who dares to kiss beside
drinks in water chastized.

A simple song of William Blake
contains a rose and apple tree
even Nature's Beauty
will never sense us Free.

Blake created his series of 116 watercolors at the turn of the century to illustrate 13 poems by Thomas Gray: this reproduces his watercolors in an affordable edition, allowing a much wider audience access to his works. Blake's Watercolours For The Poems Of Thomas Gray republishes all 116 plates originally in the Trianon Press edition.

June Singer's Blake, Jung, And The Collective Unconscious examines the words and images contained in Blake's works, considering Jung's concepts of archetypes and other ideas inherent in the verbal and visual images. An important, involving work.

Lorraine Clark opens her comparative study of Blake and Kierkegaard by describing two acts of renunciation. As she understands it Kierkegaard's act of withdrawing from his engagement to Regina did not work out in the way he secretly hoped. He had somehow imagined that the reward for his renunciation would be Regina restored. It did not happen .Regina married almost immediately afterwards, and Kierkegaard was left with himself and the creation of his works of genius. Blake's renunciation had to do with his friend and patron Hayley who wished him to compromise and succeed in the world of commerce. Blake suffered a three year withdrawal and depression but in the end renounced the 'compromise' and went on to create his last great prophetic works. Both these renunciations Clarke sees as rejections of 'compromise' and affirmation of a deeper creative integrity.
In another central comparison Clark considers the way Blake and Kierkegaard contend with what she calls the 'spectre of dialectic'. She considers the way Blake and Kiekegaard in parallel contend with the skeptical naysaying elements of Mind and Self. Blake's Spectre of Dialectic' and Kierkegaard's Concept of Dread are compared and elucidated. And we are helped to more deeply understand these two great rebellious and yet deeply religious spirits,
Clarke is an excellent writer who makes complex ideas clear and understandable.