Final Paper, relating Romanticism in Lit. to Romanticism in Art.

Chelsea Dellaripa

Janelle A. Schwartz

Romanticism In Literature

December 11, 2009

 

Throughout the course of the Romanticism in Literature class, there have been many works of Romantic literature that I have taken further interest in.  As I began to expand my knowledge of certain Romantic poets and their pieces, I noticed that the use of Art to accompany the poems was a common trend.  This intrigued me because as I am a Visual Arts major, it is exciting to be able to learn how art has been apart of history for so long, in this case, in the literature of the Romantic Era.  Among the poems that we have studied, there was one that particularly stood out to me, William Blake’s The Book of Thel.

I stood in front of my Romanticism in Literature class with my fellow students while analyzing the cover plate to The Book of Thel that had been enlarged by the slide projector.  I couldn’t help but marvel at the methods and colors the artist chose.  This is the first piece of artwork that I had heard of, or even seen, that a Romantic poet had created.  Our professor explained to us Blake’s method of creating this book, which was called Illuminated printing.  I learned that this method of his was basically a reversal method of normal etching that Blake had invented and had later been used in commercial printing.  The cover itself made me want to delve into his book.  It was then that I embarked on my exploration of Art used in the Romantic Literature.

            The beliefs and characteristics of Romantic poets and artists, although expressed in different ways, were generally that in the same.  Romantics stressed the awe of nature in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature.  They legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority.  The Romantic Poets, such as William Blake, habitually used metaphors in his writing to convey certain themes and objectives.  Equivalently, he applied this method to his etchings.  In his artwork, Blake developed precise techniques in order to produce specific associations in the mind of the viewer, such as endowing animals or inanimate objects with human values.

William Blake used a plate of etched artwork for every one of the six poems contained in The Book of Thel.  Throughout this book, Blake proposes answers to the troubles and questions of the meaning of life.  The character that he uses in the reading is Thel, a girl who is on the verge of sexuality, which is the state where most of her anxiety stems from.  She fears that she will die as a worthless and forgotten human.  Blake’s literature explicates the conflict between Thel's innocence and the world of outside experience.  He describes Thel as a young, pale woman, and utilizes the figure of a lamb in his poem as an icon of innocence that he ties into Thel’s character.  Thus referring to the curiosity of Thel when he describes Thel as one who is often wondering away from her “flock.”  The artwork he etched coincides with this theme and could perhaps alone tell the story that the actual text in Blake’s poems does.

The fourth plate of The Book of Thel presents artwork alongside verse three of the poem. The positioning and colors of the subjects in the image correspond with the meaning that is established in the passage.  On this plate, Blake has etched a hazy blue and pink background landscape.  In front of the backdrop, there is a woman in a green, flowing gown with her arms spread out to her sides, positioned in such a way that it implies power or authority.  This woman is standing over a green plant that is cradling a baby, all placed purposefully at the bottom of the etching.  In the top left of the image, there is a male angel in a flowing white garment in the sky flying over and away from the woman and baby, however he is looking at them as he flies.  There is much attention that Blake pays to detail if the etching is looked at closely.  He also has made that picture so as to narrate the poem; therefore everything depicted in the illustration has a reason for the certain placements.

The text on the fourth plate is verse three of Blake’s poem.  It is placed there because it is significant to the artwork that he did.   In this verse of the poem (verse three) Blake frequently refers to a worm.  He uses the worm as a figure of weakness and death of the mortal body, as well as death of sexual fulfillment.  The worm also epitomizes decay and the necessary paradox of Thel’s decision to be born, and the struggle with that decision itself. In the beginning of the verse, he says, “I see thee like an infant wrapped in the Lilly’s leaf.”  This line refers to the baby that is nested in the plant.  He later brings together the symbolism of the worm by saying, “Is this a Worm? I see thee lay helpless & naked: weeping.”  Blake is replacing the worm for the baby in this line. He reveals the motive that the woman in the etching is emblematic to the poem, bowing over the baby, when he writes, “She bow'd over the weeping infant. and her life exhal'd.”  Throughout the whole book, Blake’s character Thel carries with her the fear of death and decay of her body, which is yet an additional reason that worms are mentioned persistently.

William Blake’s The Book of Thel is said to be consistent with his early works, nonetheless proposing a romantic view of the innocence and experience of life.  He has presented these views not only through his literature, but in his art as well.  Collectively, the engravings that Blake has produced for The Book of Thel, narrate a story with a central theme of innocence and experience, both compromising our existence, the reality that we all must face in life.

Works Cited

Grundy, Thomas E. “An Eye of gifts & graces: A Reading of Blake's The Book of Thel” <http://ir.nul.nagoya-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2237/5464/1/BB004204049.pdf> December 1, 2009.

“The Book of Thel” <http://12koerbe.de/phosphoros/blake.htm> December 1, 2009.

“The William Blake Archive.” <http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/main.html> November 21, 2009.