Plate for London

One of Blake's engraved plates for London from his Songs of Experience

TWO CONCEPTIONS OF CHILDHOOD IN EUROPEAN AND RUSSIAN POETRY OF XVIII–XIX C.

G. R. Derzhavin with his famous Ode on the birth of a future Emperor 1779 became in the Russian poetry of a new epoch the pioneer of Childhood and children theme. The poet except the rossoist topic of Childhood as clear headsprings innovatively revealed a different concept of Childhood as a School (educational) in the episode of fairies gifts who give a child – a future tsar both exceptional abilities and knowledge. Derzhavin outstripped an English poet W. Blake who also touched upon the topic of Childhood and children in his poetic cycles of 1789–1794. The article also discusses the motif of Childhood and children on the material of English (W. Blake and W. Wordsworth) and Russian (N. A. Neckrasov) poetry of the XX c. W. Blake’s cycles («The songs of virginity» (1789) and «The songs of experience» (1794) as well as W. Wordsworth’s cycles «Preludes» and his «Ode.News on immortality coming from early childhood memories» (1803–1807) give the images of children and childhood in the context of nature as a leading principle of Romanticism: a child with his initial natural piety as a real headspring of a man – a pure angel but a sage already. In the Russian poetry of the XIX c. N. A. Neckrasov as well as W.Blake and W. Wordsworth in England turned to the images and motifs of children and Childhood through his whole literary biography («Childhood», «On the Volga. Valezhnikov’s childhood», «A schoolboy» and so on).

Art and mythology of William Blake in the context of the "Dead Man" by Jim Jarmush.

The presented article is devoted to the study of the image of creativity and mythology of William Blake in the film by J. Jarmusch "Dead Man". The author has carried out a detailed philosophical and art analysis of the film "Dead Man" and graphic works by William Blake, in particular, the series of engravings “Heads of Ghosts”, engravings “Ghost of the Flea” and “The Lost Boy”. The author also examined poetry and mythology in the work of William Blake based on the material of the works "The Marriage of Hell and Eden" (1973), "Songs of Innocence" (1789) and "Songs of Experience" (1973). Having conducted a comparative analysis of the works of W. Blake and the film by J. Jarmusch, the author revealed the similarities among the characters, mythology, plot and attitude in the movie "Dead" by J. Jarmusch and the works of W. Blake, interpreted the reason for citing the works of W. Blake in the movie "Dead Man" ... As a result, a conclusion was made about the commonality of the worldview attitudes of the work of J. Jarmusch "Dead Man" and the work of W. Blake. The article highlights the common features of the investigated works and the film: quotations from works of other authors, acquiring new meaning (citing the works of John Milton and Dante W. Blake correlates with the quotation of W. Blake in the film "Dead Man"); initiation motive; wandering motive; the idea of the wrongness of the world and the dualism of the universe. The author notes that the main artistic ideas of the works under consideration by William Blake are reflected in the film "Dead Man" by J. Jarmusch. In synthesis, they acquire a new meaning – the path of the soul to salvation through the overcoming of false ideas, vices, knowledge of the truth. This work uses the method of philosophical and art history analysis, developed by the Siberian art history school.

An Analysis of Intertextuality in William Blake’s Companion Poems: The Lamb and The Tyger

This study undertakes a thorough analysis of the aspects of intertextuality and their undertones in William Blake’s companion poems:The Lamb (1789) from the Songs of Innocence and The Tyger (1794) from the Songs of Experience. These poems are often read side by side since they are described as counterparts to one another reflecting Blake’s dualistic ideology on the conflicting states of the human soul (good vs. evil). The researchers adopted Charles Bazerman’s(2004) theory in analyzing intertextuality within texts. The analysis of the poems revealed that there are 22 instances of religious and literary intertextual allusions within both poems and their type of textual integration was mainly description. In addition, a great percentage of those allusions consist of religious undertones which help reflect the dualistic approach that Blake adopted in his volumes of poetry. Keywords: dualistic; intertextuality; poetry; religious

Manoah’s Songs of Experience

There is a strong temptation to hold up the lives of brothers Manoah and Ebenezer Sibly for comparison—they make plausible stock characters: the good brother and the bad one. The bare evidence of their lives readily suggests this simplistic reading. Manoah was described by his eulogist as “quiet, steady, tolerant, patient, and above all, trustworthy.” Manoah was a steady husband and devoted father, a responsible shorthand recorder employed by the Old Bailey, a long-time employee of the Bank of England, and for fifty years, a Swedenborgian minister. He seems the antithesis to the flighty, insincere, deceptive Ebenezer. But Manoah was not a simple character. In the 1780s, he and Ebenezer worked jointly on astrological projects, embroiling Manoah in legal and spiritual compromises that brought some very public criticism, endangering Manoah’s reputation within the New Church.

Interrelation/Coexistence between Human/Nonhuman in Nature: William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

This paper considers the interrelation and coexistence between human and nonhuman in nature in William Blake’s (1757-1827) Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (1789-1794). The paper looks at his poems in the light of ecocentrism, especially the theories of Lawrence Buell (1939- ) and Ashton Nichols (1953- ), who articulate ecocentrism as a word which expresses the interconnection between human and nonhuman in nature and environment. The word, ecocentrism, denotes nature and environment as the central and essential parts of the world to represent them as a web or system wherein all members and parts, including human and nonhuman, are related and connected to each other so closely that they cannot exist and live separately and lonely. By human, it refers to who is a creature in the web, who links to other creatures and entities so closely that he cannot be isolated from them. The linkage and coexistence are the matter which can be viewed in some of the poems of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Blake watches environment and nature carefully, and in some of the poems of two mentioned collections such as “The Echoing Green,” “Nurse’s Song,” “Holy Thursday,” “The School Boy,” to name just a few, he illustrates a situation of life in which human has close relation and connection to other creatures. According to Blake, human and nonhuman have such a vital relationship so that no one can live without the others. All creatures and beings in an organism have an effect on each other, and they are interrelated. The paper shows interconnection and coexistence between human and nonhuman in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience due to portrayal and representation of nonhuman creatures in the world. It defines some nonhuman terms such as nature and environment and then focuses on the interrelation and coexistence between human and nonhuman in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in accordance with ecocentrism.