William Blake context Flashcards
What were Jean - Jacques Rousseau’s philosophical ideas? 3 points
Freedom should be a part of political life and legislation
Children were born good and can learn from experience
Formal education stops imagination
Who was the first philosopher of Romanticism?
Rousseau
In what year did Rousseau publish ‘Social Contracts’ and what was it about?
1762 about human society and rights
Name the famous quote by Rousseau about mans freedom:
‘Man was born free but everywhere is found in chains’
Define Romanticism:
A style of literature that was about the importance of imagination and emotions, interests in nature and rebellions against social rules or conventions
What social and political upheavals are ‘Song of Innocence and Experience’ linked to?
French Revolution
American war of independence
When was the American war of independence?
1755 to 1783
Briefly, what happened in the American war?
Got rid of monarchy resulting in republicanism victory
When was the French Revolution?
1789 - 1799
What are 2 key dates involved in the Revolution?
1793 execution if King Louis XVI of France and beginning of reign of terror
1795 Napoleon rises to power
What book did Thomas Paine publish and when?
Rights of man in 1792
What did Thomas Paine attack in his work, ‘Rights of man’
Hereditary government
Monarchs and House of Lords
What did Paine want in terms of political reform, from the ‘Rights of man’?
Equal political rights such as all men over 21 should be able to vote
In Paines book ’The age of reason’, what did he attack?
Christianity
Government led by royalty
Hereditary power
Which 2 radicals of the late 18th century did Blake meet?
Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft
How can Thomas Paines rejection of the church be linked to London?
He said that the church was just set up to terrify and enslave mankind
What was Mary Wollstonecraft‘ book called?
‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’
What did Wollstonecraft’s book include?
Radical politics of Paine alongside a feminist critique of society
When was Blake arrested and what for?
1803 for seditious writing
Where did many of Blake’s radical ideas come from in the 18th century, other than the individuals he met?
The religious group called the Muggletonians
What did the Muggletonians believe in?
The materialism of God as a person rather than all the theories behind him and the creation of the world
Was Blake’s work inspired by individual suffering or wholesale social change?
Individual suffering - personal stories
How does the Pre-Victorian era in which Blake worked, link to the idea of sexual freedom found in Blake’s poems?
Women weren’t allowed to show skin or even their ankles
Women had to hide skin so men wouldn’t get ‘passionate thoughts’ about them
What did the industrial revolution create and how is thus significant for Blake’s work?
A working class not being treated well by employers (wages, living and working conditions) caused poverty to increase (key theme in his poetry’
Name the 3 ‘freedoms’ that Blake’s work is based around:
Religious, sexual and individual
