2008 Woodie Awards
Remembering Blake, cleansing doors
Meryn Fluker - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Arts
- Page 1 of 1
"The iron hand crush'd the tyrant's head, And became a tyrant in his stead." That sentiment seems appropriate in the current U.S. political climate, and it could have come from the lips of a liberal activist last weekend. However, the quotation is not by an American, nor a person with opinions on current foreign policy. Instead, found in the poem "The Grey Monk," the quotation is from Englishman William Blake, who died 180 years ago.
Nov. 28 marks the celebrated poet's 250th birthday, and a number of creative individuals are joining together to commemorate his life through a series of events for the community. The festivities include a reading of Blake's work at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., and a birthday party in the UI Main Library, where an exhibition featuring reproductions of Blake's illustrated books is on display in the north lobby through February.
Tonight, Clapp Recital Hall will host a celebratory concert, setting Blake's poems to music performed by UI School of Music faculty and students.
The UI is not alone in taking this opportunity to remember Blake, who in 2002 was voted one of the Greatest Britons of all time in a poll conducted by the BBC.
"[The celebration is] really kind of going on all over the place," said Mary Lynn Grant, a curator for the exhibition. "Other countries are doing it, England especially, they have all kind of events."
The multitude of celebrations could be seen as making amends for the years Blake was ignored during his life. Though he is regarded as one of the most important Romantic poets, Blake was not widely read during his lifetime. In addition to writing, he was also an engraver, a practice he received more renown for, said UI Associate Professor of English Eric Gidal.
"[Blake] was not at all appreciated in his time," he said. "His poetry was almost - not entirely - but almost completely unknown. It was only really in the decades following his death in 1827 that his poetry started to become taken more seriously."
Gidal said part of this lack of appreciation was due to Blake's choice to engrave his own work, resulting in a small number of hard copies of Blake's work. Some of his poems only have one known copy.
Despite being virtually unknown in his time, Grant, a Blake scholar, said ideas resonate with artists throughout history, including the Beat poets and Brave New World author Aldous Huxley. Psychedelic band The Doors took its name from a famous Blake quote about "cleansing the doors of perception," Grant said.
Gidal and Grant both hope that the celebrations and exhibition will expose new minds to the world of Blake, introducing students to the work of a great poet.
"I hope it will cleanse their doors of perception," Grant said.
E-mail DI reporter Meryn Fluker at:
meryn-fluker@uiowa.edu
Nov. 28 marks the celebrated poet's 250th birthday, and a number of creative individuals are joining together to commemorate his life through a series of events for the community. The festivities include a reading of Blake's work at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., and a birthday party in the UI Main Library, where an exhibition featuring reproductions of Blake's illustrated books is on display in the north lobby through February.
Tonight, Clapp Recital Hall will host a celebratory concert, setting Blake's poems to music performed by UI School of Music faculty and students.
The UI is not alone in taking this opportunity to remember Blake, who in 2002 was voted one of the Greatest Britons of all time in a poll conducted by the BBC.
"[The celebration is] really kind of going on all over the place," said Mary Lynn Grant, a curator for the exhibition. "Other countries are doing it, England especially, they have all kind of events."
The multitude of celebrations could be seen as making amends for the years Blake was ignored during his life. Though he is regarded as one of the most important Romantic poets, Blake was not widely read during his lifetime. In addition to writing, he was also an engraver, a practice he received more renown for, said UI Associate Professor of English Eric Gidal.
"[Blake] was not at all appreciated in his time," he said. "His poetry was almost - not entirely - but almost completely unknown. It was only really in the decades following his death in 1827 that his poetry started to become taken more seriously."
Gidal said part of this lack of appreciation was due to Blake's choice to engrave his own work, resulting in a small number of hard copies of Blake's work. Some of his poems only have one known copy.
Despite being virtually unknown in his time, Grant, a Blake scholar, said ideas resonate with artists throughout history, including the Beat poets and Brave New World author Aldous Huxley. Psychedelic band The Doors took its name from a famous Blake quote about "cleansing the doors of perception," Grant said.
Gidal and Grant both hope that the celebrations and exhibition will expose new minds to the world of Blake, introducing students to the work of a great poet.
"I hope it will cleanse their doors of perception," Grant said.
E-mail DI reporter Meryn Fluker at:
meryn-fluker@uiowa.edu
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