William Blake context

Question 1

What were Jean - Jacques Rousseau’s philosophical ideas? 3 points

Answer 1

Freedom should be a part of political life and legislation
Children were born good and can learn from experience
Formal education stops imagination

Question 2

Who was the first philosopher of Romanticism?

Answer 2

Rousseau

Question 3

In what year did Rousseau publish ‘Social Contracts’ and what was it about?

Answer 3

1762 about human society and rights

Question 4

Name the famous quote by Rousseau about mans freedom:

Answer 4

‘Man was born free but everywhere is found in chains’

Question 5

Define Romanticism:

Answer 5

A style of literature that was about the importance of imagination and emotions, interests in nature and rebellions against social rules or conventions

Question 6

What social and political upheavals are ‘Song of Innocence and Experience’ linked to?

Answer 6

French Revolution

American war of independence

Question 7

When was the American war of independence?

Answer 7

1755 to 1783

Question 8

Briefly, what happened in the American war?

Answer 8

Got rid of monarchy resulting in republicanism victory

Question 9

When was the French Revolution?

Answer 9

1789 - 1799

Question 10

What are 2 key dates involved in the Revolution?

Answer 10

1793 execution if King Louis XVI of France and beginning of reign of terror
1795 Napoleon rises to power

Question 11

What book did Thomas Paine publish and when?

Answer 11

Rights of man in 1792

Question 12

What did Thomas Paine attack in his work, ‘Rights of man’

Answer 12

Hereditary government

Monarchs and House of Lords

Question 13

What did Paine want in terms of political reform, from the ‘Rights of man’?

Answer 13

Equal political rights such as all men over 21 should be able to vote

Question 14

In Paines book ’The age of reason’, what did he attack?

Answer 14

Christianity
Government led by royalty
Hereditary power

Question 15

Which 2 radicals of the late 18th century did Blake meet?

Answer 15

Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft

Question 16

How can Thomas Paines rejection of the church be linked to London?

Answer 16

He said that the church was just set up to terrify and enslave mankind

Question 17

What was Mary Wollstonecraft‘ book called?

Answer 17

‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’

Question 18

What did Wollstonecraft’s book include?

Answer 18

Radical politics of Paine alongside a feminist critique of society

Question 19

When was Blake arrested and what for?

Answer 19

1803 for seditious writing

Question 20

Where did many of Blake’s radical ideas come from in the 18th century, other than the individuals he met?

Answer 20

The religious group called the Muggletonians

Question 21

What did the Muggletonians believe in?

Answer 21

The materialism of God as a person rather than all the theories behind him and the creation of the world

Question 22

Was Blake’s work inspired by individual suffering or wholesale social change?

Answer 22

Individual suffering - personal stories

Question 23

How does the Pre-Victorian era in which Blake worked, link to the idea of sexual freedom found in Blake’s poems?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What did the industrial revolution create and how is thus significant for Blake’s work?

Answer 24

A working class not being treated well by employers (wages, living and working conditions) caused poverty to increase (key theme in his poetry’

Question 25

Name the 3 ‘freedoms’ that Blake’s work is based around:

Answer 25

Religious, sexual and individual