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William Blake's Four-Fold Imagination (2020)

51 points by hkhn 6y ago

cosmiccatnap 6y ago
This article has a strange way of romantacising mental illness.
uglygoblin 6y ago
One of my favorite concept albums is Ulver's "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": https://youtu.be/PlrW9SUCINo https://youtu.be/PlrW9SUCINo
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Incomplete without mention of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger and what can be made out of that like for instance in https://youtu.be/_6UsrgRkOas https://youtu.be/_6UsrgRkOas
vixen99 6y ago
It seems that Britain celebrates this extraordinary man with not even one single statue. There is a statue of Blake in Bridgewater, Somerset but it's Robert Blake, a naval commander, worthy no doubt but hardly a global figure. Anyone crossing the Albert Bridge in London might notice a church up-river (on the left as you go north). William Blake was married in that church in 1782.
- shatnersbassoon 6y ago
  You mean St Mary's Battersea? You can't see that from Albert Bridge, but you can from Battersea Bridge. Also notable as the last resting place of Benedict Arnold.
- ableal 6y ago
  It's also a pity that Blake is fairly hard to find in the (old) Tate museum, almost lost in a small loft, if memory serves (I visited twice, last time in 2016). Bosch and Blake wipe the floor with most of Tate Modern, or any equivalent gallery. It may be that it takes time for the dust to settle ...
scsilver 6y ago
Love Blake, a brilliant madman. One of my favorite connections of him to the modern world besides Marilyn Manson reading "The Proverbs of Hell" is the Fusion work of David Axelrod, who makes many Blake references in song names and album names. Those same songs go one to be heavily sampled by the hip hop community. Some examples of the songs that sample Axelrod are listed in this article. https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1436-david-axelrods-hip-hop-influence-in-7-highly-sampled-songs/ https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1436-david-axelrods-hip-hop-i... Many of you will easily recognize this intro https://youtu.be/6pG_3jZxzlo https://youtu.be/6pG_3jZxzlo Its a very cool connection that bridges a gap between some of my beloved contemporary artists and one of my favorite enlightenment thinkers, Blake.
wombatmobile 6y ago
There is a door to sleep, which, when opened, expands the possibilities of perception geometrically and chromatically, all the way to the open horizon of dreaming, unbound by the physical laws that tether us to mundane Waking life. Blake had his foot in that door. And the rest of him, for his foot was oriented backwards, just so that he could prise the door open from the opposite side for long enough to deposit a missive.
- ableal 6y ago
  That brings to mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves

51 points by hkhn 6y ago

This article has a strange way of romantacising mental illness.

One of my favorite concept albums is Ulver's "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": https://youtu.be/PlrW9SUCINo https://youtu.be/PlrW9SUCINo

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago

Incomplete without mention of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyger and what can be made out of that like for instance in https://youtu.be/_6UsrgRkOas https://youtu.be/_6UsrgRkOas

vixen99 6y ago

It seems that Britain celebrates this extraordinary man with not even one single statue. There is a statue of Blake in Bridgewater, Somerset but it's Robert Blake, a naval commander, worthy no doubt but hardly a global figure. Anyone crossing the Albert Bridge in London might notice a church up-river (on the left as you go north). William Blake was married in that church in 1782.

shatnersbassoon 6y ago
You mean St Mary's Battersea? You can't see that from Albert Bridge, but you can from Battersea Bridge. Also notable as the last resting place of Benedict Arnold.
ableal 6y ago
It's also a pity that Blake is fairly hard to find in the (old) Tate museum, almost lost in a small loft, if memory serves (I visited twice, last time in 2016). Bosch and Blake wipe the floor with most of Tate Modern, or any equivalent gallery. It may be that it takes time for the dust to settle ...

scsilver 6y ago

Love Blake, a brilliant madman. One of my favorite connections of him to the modern world besides Marilyn Manson reading "The Proverbs of Hell" is the Fusion work of David Axelrod, who makes many Blake references in song names and album names. Those same songs go one to be heavily sampled by the hip hop community. Some examples of the songs that sample Axelrod are listed in this article. https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1436-david-axelrods-hip-hop-influence-in-7-highly-sampled-songs/ https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1436-david-axelrods-hip-hop-i... Many of you will easily recognize this intro https://youtu.be/6pG_3jZxzlo https://youtu.be/6pG_3jZxzlo Its a very cool connection that bridges a gap between some of my beloved contemporary artists and one of my favorite enlightenment thinkers, Blake.

wombatmobile 6y ago

There is a door to sleep, which, when opened, expands the possibilities of perception geometrically and chromatically, all the way to the open horizon of dreaming, unbound by the physical laws that tether us to mundane Waking life. Blake had his foot in that door. And the rest of him, for his foot was oriented backwards, just so that he could prise the door open from the opposite side for long enough to deposit a missive.

ableal 6y ago
That brings to mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves