ReadWriteThink: November 28, 2009: Poet William Blake was born in 1757.

November 28, 2009

		William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in London, England. While best known for his poetry, including The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience, Blake was also an accomplished artist and engraver who illustrated many of his own poetic works. As a believer in the power of human imagination, Blake influenced those poets and writers who would later be called the Romantics. He died on August 12, 1827, with no money and little recognition. image © 2009 www.clipart.com

Poet William Blake was born in 1757.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

In his artwork, Blake invented names, faces, and actions that personified abstract concepts. His character, Urizen, for example, represented law and order, and Blake often drew him as a bearded old man.

As a class, brainstorm a list of grade-appropriate abstract concepts, such as “freedom,” “anger,” “peer pressure,” “frustration,” etc. Then, have students choose one and write down all the words that they associate with that concept. Finally, students should personify that concept either through a drawing or through a story told about the character who personifies that concept. See “Poetstanding” the Poem for examples of Blake’s personification.

Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience also work well to develop students’ skills at comparing and contrasting. Have students read and complete a Venn diagram for The Tyger and The Lamb. Elementary students can identify words and phrases that are similar and different in the poems, while older students should be able to identify differences in tone and theme.

Lesson Plans

Dancing Minds and Shouting Smiles: Teaching Personification Through Poetry
In this lesson for grades 3–5, students learn about personification by reading and discussing poems by Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and Langston Hughes. Then, they use the poems as a guide to brainstorm lists of nouns and verbs that they randomly arrange to create personification in their own poems.

Figurative Language Awards Ceremony
This ReadWriteThink lesson walks students through the various literary devices used by writers and asks them to create examples of their own. It is appropriate for grades 3–5.

Using Classic Poetry to Challenge and Enrich Students’ Writing
In this lesson, middle school students learn to interpret multiple perspectives while reading, analyzing, and discussing classic works of poetry, including Blake’s “The Lamb.”

Web Links

The William Blake Archive
This hypermedia project is sponsored by the Library of Congress and the NEH; it contains everything that you might want to know about Blake, including biographies, written work, visual art, and criticism.

The Web Museum, Paris
This site has 10 full-color images of Blake’s paintings and engravings. Show them to students to introduce a discussion on tone; they are extremely powerful pieces.

Chambers of the Imagination
This resource for high school students reviews the various characters in William Blake’s personal mythology using images and text.

William Blake: Illustrated Books
The New York Public Library Digital Gallery offers images of the original versions of three books by Blake, for which he created the text and illustrations and printed the books.

Texts

Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and Experience. Dover Books.
This text is available in a Dover Thrift edition. It does not have his illustrations, but for a buck, how can you go wrong?

Blake, William. 2001. William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books. Thames and Hudson.
With more than 300 illustrations, this text attempts to capture Blake’s work the way he envisioned it.

Willard, Nancy. 1981. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers. Harcourt.
This book of rhymes captures much of Blake’s imagination, though toned-down and made appropriate for elementary-level children.

Blake, William. 1982. The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. University of California Press.
This edition of a classic Blake text includes critical commentary and a chronology of his poems.