New-York tribune., 1874-11-30
BOSTON.
LITERARY NOTES.


trpox A RrcuI AR CORRESPONDENT OF TUE IRlBUNL'i
BosroN. Nov. pa very curious ana a
verv interesting book is 1.-THE Poetca WORKS OF Wm'
Blake. lyrical and miscellaneous" Qoberts bro'hersJ
.s,,od by Wm. Michael Rossctt, who has also con- |
,rbued PREDATORY memoir, which occupies more tAan
third OF the volume. called this book Interesting
and 40 II Is for II is story and the manifestation OF
character which, in the whole history OF literature mas
no parallel but 1t is not easy reading Inc memoir
challenges your closest attention. you would gam any
Aust comprehension Of the strange character OF wbieh
treats and the poems DO read with careless de-
hight like the lifting lyrics Of Nora Perry for Instance
If YOU would know what OF them signify you VIII
need read them again and again. and even then you
will often leave of quito that the author bnl'
SELF land still less you his unilumnated studentJ
knows their full significance. But everybody wants 10
know something about VIM. Blake; and this volume ar
fors the best opportunity has yet been given to the
general reader to make his acquaintance The e1terha
facts Of his lie simple enough.
VIM Blake was born in London in 1857. lie was the
Son OF respectable hoser and the second child out OF
family Of five. His education was OF the scanest but
his sefeducaton began early. Allan Cunningham mas
said that at ten years OF he sn artist ana at
twelve poet. He copied prints in his boyhood ana
haunted salesrooms, and his parents seem 10 nave en-
eoursged this artistic When be was ten years ola
he began attending the neschoo Of Mr. Pars In
the Strand, q weliknOwn academy where he stuoleu
from the antique In the salesroom "he bought en-
cravings low but he selected them high-a hapnaei'
Michael Angelo Durer, or Hemskerk The career OF
painter would have been the natural one for Blake 10
adopt but bis fathers were not such as to mako
this easy so be was bound apprentice 10 an engrave and
that branch Of he serward considered his regular
calling though ne was both panter and poet besides
His apprenticeship came to an end in IT'S lie next
studied in the Antique School o! the Royal Academy
after while began to paint IN water coor ana 10
engrave on his own account for the publishers.
When he was 2G and she was % be married Catharne
Boucher pretty brunette, who was at that time so
uneiucaed that she made cross by way OF signature
10 her marriage register. But she had by nature Qck
and intelligence and Blake taught her TO READ anu
write and trained her to help him in his engravings
She was moreover. good. thrifty manager, as indeed
she had need TO be- They lived their long life together
happily and help.Gly. though Blakes theories about
marriage were Of the most audacious kind
Blake was a wonderful Of visions They did NOT
call such people seeing mediums in his time When
his dearly beloved brother Robert. died. Blake "saw
his soul ascend through the ceiling, clappnG his hands
for 10y" Afterwards tho spirit Of Robert rendered him
essential service, directing him in nocturnal vision
how 10 proceed bringing out poems and designs in
conjunction Nothing in Blakes story is more remark
able than his own implicit faith his visions. He used
even TO paint portraits Of the great dead1oses soc-
rates Dayid-any august ghost whom he chose TO sum-
non He could be indifferent about earthly fame.
he sure Of the estimauonin which he was
held by world Of spirits. In the year 1900 he wrote
10 Flaxman "I am more famed in heaven for my
studies ana chambers filed with hooks and pictures of
old which wrote and painted in ages OF eternity be-
fore my mortal life; and these works are the delight
and study archangels Why then should be anxious
about the riches fame Of mortality. You, dear
FlaXman, a sublime arcAangeI-my ifend ana
companion from eternity"
In the preface TO the Jerusalem Blake speaks OF that
composition as having been dictated" to him. he
considered the grandest poem that this world con-
tans:" adding Il may praise it, since dare not pre-
tend 10 be any other than the secretarythe authors
are In eternity" The Jerusalem and the Milton belong
20 what are called "The Prophetic Books"-the most
singular, perhaps OF all Blakes singular works. Many
of them never the hight, because pdbisher could
be found TO undertake them bnt Blake took these fail
ures cOmposedly. "Weu," he would say, after some
unsuccessful application to publisher no matter; 1t
,s published elsewhere and beautifully bound"
The story u Bake working life is too long for telling
IN detail here hut all through was the life OF poet
and dreamer On the last day OF his stay on earth,
"he composed ard uttered songs to bis Maker" so
swecty that his Cathane stood long to hear them but
he said TO her in the old spirit my beloved they are
not mine no. they are mine" He told her that he
she should not be pared-he should be near her all
time take OF her And she lived four years
after he passed away; always, SO sue DeueVeu IN co
pany with his spirit,
"Was he mtdR" Mr.. Rossot asks this question at
the beginning OF the MEMOIR and then asks 1t again
after tie tale has been told. Readers will answer 1t
differently, according to their lights Rossett thinks
Blake not mad; out also he was not sane 10 can
him simply "A would be ridiculous and desplc-
able; to call him an inspired madman would be
most incomplete Gul misleading. But it may be allow
able to that he sublime genius often perfectly
sane, often Visionary, without precisely losing his hold
upOD sanity. ana sometimes exhibiting an insane faint
No extracts which my space would permit would con-
vey any idea OF his longer poems; but among the brief
ones there are scme which deserve to live with the
gems Of our literature Do you remember
TIE TIGER.
Tiger. tiger, burning bricht
In he forests OF the night,
What Immortal hand or eye
Framed ihy fearful synmetryi
In what distant deeps or skies
Burned that fire within thine eyes
On wings dared he aspire
What the hand dared seize the fire Y
Aud what shoulder and what art
Could twist tue sin -ws OF thy heart
When thy hears began 70 beat
What Or, al hand formed thy dread feet
What the hammer. what the chain,
Kuit Thy s'rcagth and forged thy oraint
what the auvilf What dread grasp
Dared thy deadly errors claspf
When the stars threw down their spears,
Aud waered heaven with thcr tears.
Did he suile his work TO see
Did lie VINO made tile lamb make thee
Here is another very quaint and characteristic:
THE FLY. !
Little Fly,
Thy Summers play
My tLOughtiess hand
Has brushed away.
AmnOtI
A ny Ike thcef
Or art not thou
man like me =
For l dance,
Aud drink and sing
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing
Ifthought is life
And strength aud breath,
Aud the want