This thesis examines William Blake’s conceptions of time and space in the light of the philosophies of Hinduism and Islam. In order to perform this analysis, source material, often from rare and neglected texts, is utilized to examine Blake’s possible unorthodox influences. The analysis of influences takes a three-pronged track: literary, symbolic, and linguistic; Blake’s possible knowledge of Orientalist translations; the symbols in his poetry, prose, and paintings are analyzed; and his potential knowledge of major Orientalist languages is also examined. Once this has been examined in sufficient depth, an excavation of Blake’s views on time and space is then undertaken. This analysis of Blake’s philosophical perspectives utilizes a comparative phenomenological approach in order to show their similarity to the perspectives of the Hindu Vedanta and Ismaili Islam. Throughout this analysis, I aim to demonstrate both that Blake’s views on space are inherently mystical (space as limitless and unbound by the physical universe), and that his view on time, having a similarity to that of the Platonists, views Eternity as the one true reality.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was one of the important English art song composers in the Twentieth century. His Ten Blake Songs for voice and oboe, composed in 1957, was commissioned for the documentary film The Vision of William Blake, which commemorated the bicentenary birth of the poet, William Blake (1757-1827). Ten poems were selected from Blake¡¦s Songs of Innocence and Experience as well as Notebook: Manuscripts by Williams, and were later collected, composed, and published in the name of Ten Blake Songs. In this song collection, Ralph Vaughan Williams used a variety of styles and composition techniques, which demonstrated his maturity and sophistication in composing English art songs in his later years. This study is consist of six parts, including the biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the characteristics of Vaughan Williams¡¦ art songs, the biography of William Blake, introduction of Songs of Innocence and Experience, the composition background of Ten Blake Songs, and the analysis as well as interpretation of these songs. Through analyzing these songs, the author wishes to explores the multiple approaches Ralph Vaughan Williams took in composing the music and enhancing the poetry written by the great eighteenth-century poet, William Blake, as well as to provide references for performers to further enhance the breadth and depth in their performance.

This thesis examines William Blake’s conceptions of time and space in the light of the philosophies of Hinduism and Islam. In order to perform this analysis, source material, often from rare and neglected texts, is utilized to examine Blake’s possible unorthodox influences. The analysis of influences takes a three-pronged track: literary, symbolic, and linguistic; Blake’s possible knowledge of Orientalist translations; the symbols in his poetry, prose, and paintings are analyzed; and his potential knowledge of major Orientalist languages is also examined. Once this has been examined in sufficient depth, an excavation of Blake’s views on time and space is then undertaken. This analysis of Blake’s philosophical perspectives utilizes a comparative phenomenological approach in order to show their similarity to the perspectives of the Hindu Vedanta and Ismaili Islam. Throughout this analysis, I aim to demonstrate both that Blake’s views on space are inherently mystical (space as limitless and unbound by the physical universe), and that his view on time, having a similarity to that of the Platonists, views Eternity as the one true reality.

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This thesis argues that William Blake’s poetry creates meaning through internal poetic echoes, and that these Blakean echoes re-sound in Ernest Jones and Gerald Massey’s Poetry. There is no demonstrable link between Blake and Chartism; this raises the question of how to account for poetic echoes that occur in the absence of a direct link. The thesis uses two complementary methodological strategies. The significance of the Blakean echoes in Jones and Massey’s work will be demonstrated through extensive close textual analysis. This is accompanied by the historically focused argument that the Blakean echoes in Chartist poetry can be explained by a shared underlying cultural matrix of radical politics and radical Christianity. Chapter 1 opens by presenting the evidence against a demonstrable link between Blake and the Chartists. It outlines how the lack of a direct link impacts upon our understanding of the Blakean echoes in Chartist poetry. Existing theories of influence insufficiently describe these textual effects; this chapter draws upon aspects of Intertextuality and New Historicist theory to propose that Blake, Jones and Massey’s poetry is best considered in terms of echo, re-sounding and correspondence. Chapter 2 addresses the question of how Blakean echoes can occur in the absence of a direct link. Using recent Blake scholarship as a methodological model, this chapter outlines the ‘cultural matrix’ theory, suggesting that Blake and the Chartists engaged with many of the same radical historical ‘threads’. Chapter 3 explores key examples of Shelleyan influence in Jones and Massey’s poetry. This chapter highlights the direct intertextual link between Shelley and the Chartists and demonstrates how Chartist poetry might be discussed in terms of influence and allusion. Chapter 4 outlines the most notable Blakean echoes in the poetry of Jones. Jones’ poetry resonates with images of Priestcraft and Kingcraft, as well as chains and binding; similar images play a central role in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. The chapter contains significant engagement with Blake studies; it presents Blake’s imagery as echoingly interconnected both within and across poems and collections. Chapter 5 extends this close textual exploration to the work of Massey. Massey’s poetry contains many of the key Blakean images identified in the work of Jones. However, ‘The Three Voices’ contains an uncanny resonance of Blake; echo occurs as mis-hearing and trace. ‘Echo’ is not being used as a simple substitute for ‘allusion’, ‘influence’ or ‘intertext’, but here denotes an entirely different textual effect that must be judged in new terms. The conclusion summarises the thesis and asks whether the radical nature of Blake, Jones and Massey’s shared culture may have affected not only their vocabulary of imagery, but also the way in which these images were deployed.

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LAND OF DREAMS is an opera in one act based on poems by the English poet William Blake. The work is for chamber orchestra, dancers, and an actor, as well as the vocal cast listed below. Cast of Characters Thomas Soprano The Father Baritone The Nurse Alto The Mother Mezzo Soprano The opera divides into eight sections with a total performance time of approximately forty minutes. Each section represents a different stylistic approach to the musical material. This juxtaposing of various styles is reflective of the eclectic nature of the text. The setting is England around 1800, the scene is a child's (Thomas) bedroom. All of the dramatic action takes place in this room in the various stages of the conscious (awake) and unconscious (asleep) states of the child's mind.

This thesis explores how Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's 2008 novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, engages with William Blake's life and his writings on animal welfare and speaks to current conversations about multispecies justice in the environmental humanities. It argues, first, that in recognizing how this novel's protagonist, Janina, selectively reads Blake to rationalize retributive justice, readers should resist a tendency to mistake this character for Tokarczuk's ideal advocate for environmental ethics. Secondly, it asserts that legal scholars' division between retributive and restorative justice offers valuable framework for approaching both this novel and ongoing debates about multispecies relations and environmental justice.

New Perspectives on Paul and Marx: William Blakes œThe Chimney Sweeper in Songs of Innocence and ExperienceLianna Jean Rose ManibogDepartment of English, BYUMaster of Arts This article explores the function of religion in socio-political spheres. Karl Marx is famously against religion in all its various capacities, arguing that it is a tool used by power structures to control the masses. William Blake, the British poet, is also seen as critical of religion, and because of this his works are often read through a Marxist lens. And yet depictions of Blake as a staunchly anti-religious man dont seem to fit with what we know of him and his works. This article reexamines key texts that deal with the question of how faith and society intersect, particularly reading the works of the Apostle Paul through a Jewish understanding. In doing so, we gain a new understanding of religion as a balancing weight that combats the dangers of the oppressive governments that Marx staunchly opposed.

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