Blake Resource at the University of Georgia

Romantic Studies has been at the forefront of the emerging field known as "digital humanities," and one of the early Romanticist experimenters teaches at the University of Georgia.  In the nineties, he and his students composed histories of the criticism of the poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience (in some cases these histories reach back to the nineteenth century, others are more twentieth-century-centric).

For example, you can read the discussion of "The Tyger" here: http://www.english.uga.edu/wblake/SONGS/42/42bib.html

The easiest way to see the critical history of an individual poem is to type the following key words into a search engine: "blake [poem's title] uga."  You CAN navigate the archive by fiddling with the URL, but you're like to find what you are looking for faster by using a search engine.

This will likely be an aid for those of you who want to write about Blake for the longer paper at the semester's end (which will require you to dig into the criticism).  It's still likely to fascinate those who want to get a sense of what professional critics make of Blake's poems.

How did Blake make those plates?

Follow this link to learn more about the inventive method that Blake used to made the plates for printing _Songs of Innocence_:
http://www.vu.union.edu/~blake/artisan.html

Further information (more than most of us want to know) can be found in this excellent example of digital scholarship:
http://www.rochester.edu/College/ENG/blake/inquiry/enhanced/index.html

Very Helpful Blake Timeline

http://www.blakesociety.org/about-blake/a-blake-chronology/
An example entry:
1788
Began associating with the radical circle of Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Paine, & Joseph Johnson.  Met the painter Henry Fuseli, or Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741-1825, with whom he had some spiritual affinity.  For the rest of his life, Blake had a close, spiritual relationship with Robert (Gilchrist).  “I converse daily & hourly in the Spirit & See him in my remembrance in the regions of my Imagination.  I hear his advice & even now write from his Dictate.”  Blake claimed that the appearance of Robert to him in one of his “visionary imaginations” led to the idea of relief etching in copper for printing his poetry (Gilchrist).  Produces his first works using his method of relief etched illuminated printing: There is No Natural Religion & All Religions are One, though these were not printed until 1794 5.  Engraves the Songs of Innocence by the new process (Gilchrist).

Note, too, what Blake is up to in 1791:
The first book of Blake’s unfinished poem in seven books, The French Revolution, is printed for Joseph Johnson but in view of the political situation is abandoned.  Only one set of page proofs survives.  Six engravings after Blake’s designs appeared in a new edition of Mary Wollstonecraft’s book Original Stories from Real Life, Johnson, 1791, & 10 plates for [Erasmus, grandfather of Charles] Darwin’s Botanic Garden, Johnson, 1791 (Gilchrist).

The Blake Archive

http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/main.html
The Blake Archive is one of the most impressive online endeavors in the field of Romantic Studies (if not digital humanities in general).  We'll discuss in class how to use it effectively, though I suspect many of you will enjoy figuring out how to use it by toying with it in advance.

Reading for Wednesday, Jan 18: http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=s-inn.b&java=yes
Using the Blake Archive's 1789 edition of Songs of Innocence, read/review "Title Page"; "Introduction"; "The Voice of the Ancient Bard"; "The Ecchoing Green"; "The Chimney Sweeper"; and "The Lamb"

Reading for Friday, Jan. 20:  http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=songsie.b&java=yes
First of all, please carefully review the "General Title Page," reflecting on Blake's new title: Songs of Innocence and Experience, Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul
In Songs of Innocence, please read: "The Divine Image"
In Songs of Experience, please read: "Title Page for Songs of Experience"; "Introduction"; "Earth's Answer"; "The Tyger"; "London"; "The Human Abstract"; and "A Poison Tree"