The Revolutionary Visions Of William Blake (reading response #3)

Thomas J.J. Altizer’s article “The Revolutionary Visions Of William Blake” really goes along with the topic of our blog. He takes William Blake’s ideas about the Church and theology into great depth. As one reads through the article they begin to notice how great Blake’s mind was. He brings in the idea of, “Self-Annihilation of God”, which shows how radical he was. Altizer takes this idea and continues to develop if throughout the article. He tends to visit some of Blake’s other ideas, but continually goes back to this one. This idea was going so far against what was believed that it has to be studied for some time to understand it. Altizer is essentially writing in the same sense that our groups is, to read through Blake’s works, and try to interpret them the best he could. This can be a dangerous trail to walk on though, because if one were to speak against what was believed they could be looked down and disregarded. New ideas about old topics can be disregarded and thrown aside without having the article fully looked out. Change can be considered almost like a disease; people try to get rid of it as fast as they possibly can. This change can come in many forms, including ideas like this, “Here at the center of Blake’s most revolutionary vision, one calling forth himself God as Satan”. Ideas and visions like this can bring harsh judgment upon those who support them, but ideas like this have come from our most read and inspiring scholars. Altizer’s article really gets down to how big of a revolutionary Blake was. This main idea of “God becoming Satan” is so hard to comprehend that it is still discussed. He went against the religion and beliefs of the time in order to support what he believed. Altizer builds on Blake’s ideas and takes them farther by further explain their meaning, as well as using new references to gain more understanding. By taking Blake’s ideas further he really gives a deeper understanding into the mind and works of William Blake, which is what our blog group is attempting to do.

The ideas that Altizer bring up can go along and against what my interpretations of Blake are. A few of his interpretations about Blake’s individual poems can have a good impact, and can provide more depth to the argument about the content of the poem. The ideas, and mainly the one about The Marriage of Heaven and Hell I do not really agree with his interpretation. I believe that Blake was trying to change the way people believed, as well as what they believe. I do not agree with the way he phrases and goes on talking about God having be killed and become Satan. He brings up a valid point in changing the way people believe, but goes about it in too strong of a manner. If Altizer changed the ways he brought up Blake’s ideas, he would be easier to follow and trust in. By taking a softer approach he can slowly bring up the ideas and explain them, but instead he brings them straight into the article as Blake’s most revolutionary ideas. He needed to start explaining the idea before he brought it up. His use of reference was a good start to being able to understand what he was saying, but was still confusing. The article is mainly about the one super radical idea of the Christian God specifically having to die, or be “Self-Annihilated” and “Become Satan”. He does explain that by doing this and he would “Self-Annihilate Satan”. By bringing up this idea Altizer bring up a highly debated topic that raises a ton of questions. I believe that part of this idea can be considered relevant, because he is effectively trying to get rid of Satan. The way he goes about this does not help one try to understand the idea without seriously questioning the article and its relevancy. The idea that was originally brought up by Blake could seriously make someone question the way they believe, but it could also make others believe Blake was a crazy man that tried to make the people of his time disregard their belief system.

Nature and Me (prose poem)

I sit staring into nature and all its entirety,  it continues to make my  mind be blown with its vast complexity. I can smell the flowers all day, and never smell the same thing twice. The amount of difference in nature makes all of my senses be overloaded at the same time. It then starts to rain, which on any normal day can make me sad, but out in nature it creates an aura of good feelings around my mind. It makes me feel like I am connected into this once untouched area of life. Everything around me is gaining life from the rain, and all I want to usually do is make it stop. How selfish of me to try and deprive the life from these creatures around me. The rain is wet, and cooling, almost a calming effect it has. The rain is clearing my mind as I sit staring into nature again. All day I just sit staring into the great unknown that has made my mind wonder so many things. Again and again my senses are overloaded with the info that makes my brain grow, the feeling of this can blast through the capacity that it can handle. It causes me to look deeper into my soul and contemplate the reason I am really in the middle of Nature. I came to get away from my work and stress, but as luck would have it I am now beginning to understand all of nature and its complexities. It teaches me more and more everyday, in every way, but hey it still takes my mind off of the mind numbing effort that awaits me when I arrive back from my ever important learning adventure into nature. And so I leave my humble abode that has provided me more questions than I had arrived with, but I still thank nature for showing me the unknown depths of my mind.

Community Blog

There are many good blogs out there, but you have to search to find one thats relevant. I found a blog that directly goes in the same direction as ours. The blog all about blake is good website where one can compare the different facts about Blake's life and works. When I visited it, there was a ton of good information that can people can learn from. It could be helpful to anyone from a new Blake fan, to an experienced poetry reader. The information there that can be accessed is helpful and insightful. They give a different perspective on stories that is offered on this blog. They have also chosen to do different stories, which can give one deeper insight into the revolutionary mind of William Blake.


The blog is also very well constructed and very easy to navigate. These are all good characteristics of a blog. It gives a very handy lists to other works that William Blake has done. I really like the way they have it organized. It is in a good order and everything that one is looking for can be found with ease. The blog will only continue to get better as more stuff is added to it. 


The authors have done a good job, but could be improved by adding more to the mix. With more authors editing the page one could get a greater perspective on the works and ideas that drove William Blake to write and engrave the way he did. The greater perspective the authors give, the greater the information is that can be attained from their blog. This blog has done a good job so far in helping one understand and review the works of William Blake. With a little more information it could become another great Blake blog.


Of the Blake blogs that I have viewed this is one of the better ones. When paired with more information about Blake it is one of the best Blake websites I have found. On a different note of the blog, I really enjoyed the prose poems that the authors have written. They provide a look into their minds, as well as provide some relief from the intense ideas of Blake.

The works of William Blake

William Blake is now regarded as one of the most influential poets, but he was not always viewed that way. He was born in London, England in 1757. He attended school until he was ten, but then finished his education at home with his mother. He later got married and started his writing and engraving career. He wrote against the beliefs in science and math, that were coming out at the time. He is now known as a romantic poet for his writing that he did throughout his life.


Blake had many views and ideas that went against the common belief, and for this he was looked down on by some of his peers. He had "revolutionary mindset" many people believe. He came up with his own version of Christian mythology. He changed how many people believed in the way God was viewed. He had  many ideas that made people question how well they believed. This still happens to this day, and some of his poems are so controversial and influential that establishments can get in trouble for making their students or employees read them.


I really enjoyed reading Blake for this reason. When pieces of work get banned it makes the read more interesting. It can make you look for a hidden massage in the piece of work that you would not usually try to find. William Blake became so famous after his death, as is the case with many poets and scholars. Because of the mindset that William Blake had when writing, he was able to create pieces of work that are studied all around the world almost two hundred years later. If an author can still have that big of a following that much later, there must be an important message hidden in the text. By knowing this it makes the works of Blake so much more interesting.


The way Blake writes creates a mixed emotion in most people. Many want to deny what he says right away, but others who read deeper and try to get a grasp on what he is saying can become so much wiser and more knowledgeable. By reading a lot of Blake ones skill to reveal these hidden meanings could become so great that they could take it to almost any other authors works and find it. Blake is a great place go start doing this because he hides meanings in text very well, and also very often.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, is a collection of forty-five poems. It is actually a two part piece, the first being Songs of Innocence, and the second being Songs of Experience. The first part has 19 poems, including some of Blake's most well known poems.  Some of the poems from each section connect into other poems. For instance, The Lamb shows the innocence part of what Blake was writing about, bu to go with it  The Tyger shows the other side, or the "experience" part. The original piece of this was  Songs of Innocence, but was later added to be Blake, to create the entire collection entitled  Songs of Innocence and Experience. This collection is what Blake is really known for. This collection of his works really made him what he is. By creating a book of works that was this controversial and also influencing, he was taking a risk. He did not worry about the risk and published them, he was argued against by other poets because of his views about religion, science, and math. His views come out strong in this collection. His other collection The Marriage of Heaven and Hell was his only other work that was more controversial and influencing. This collection of his really shows how he felt about his beliefs. Many people believe that he had a revolutionary mindset when he wrote this. 


The main thing he was trying to to convey when he wrote this was to show the two sides of human spirit. The first part about innocence, is showing a human spirit when it is young and also very free. It dose not need to obey rules and is not repressed by restrictions. The second part is showing what really happens to the human spirit when rules take over. I believe that these rules he is talking about is the belief that science and math can explain everything. William Blake hated science and math and did not believe it could explain the mind, and he also believed humans needed to reconnect to nature. The belief in math and science is a rule filled and very restrictive way for the human spirit to live. The way we should live is believing in the free nature minded way that are human spirits originally were living as.

The Lamb

The Lamb

The lamb is one of William Blake's more well known poems. It came out of his book, Songs of Innocence. As with any poem, this has had  many interpretations and comments made about it. When I read through this poem i got my own thoughts and opinions about it. When talking about the lamb, I believe that Blake is using the lamb as a symbol for Jesus Christ. When describing the lamb he says things like the lamb is meek, and mild. These terms have been used to describe Jesus. He gives the lamb some of the same traits as Jesus. And at the end of the poem he also say, "Little Lamb, God Bless Thee!". In saying this, Blake is saying how God respects Jesus for dying for the people of the earth. The ending of the second stanza is trying to represent how God feels about his son. In the beginning of the poem the lamb us being questioned, as if it does not know what it is, "Little lamb, who made thee". This is showing how little the lamb knows of it creator, but still trusts it. The second stanza is about telling the lamb who made it and what it is, instead of questioning it. The second part, is also about how the lamb became a child if God, and eventually a child of man. The poem is part of the story of Christianity. William Blake was attempting to show the way he viewed the Christian religion to the world in writing The Lamb. This poem was his way of influencing others into believing his views without them realizing it. As a teenager I view this poem as a interpretation of how William Blake believed. By looking deeper into other works of his, one could get a real look into how he really believed. To close it off The Lamb is a key piece of literature if one really wants to understand the works of the romantics and their beliefs, especially those who follow the beliefs of William Blake.