The William Blake Calendar

The William Blake Calendar (1913) ? William Blake Publisher: Frank Palmer, London Selected by: Thomas Wright Year: 1913 ISBN: None ? published long before ISBNs existed Condition: Good Sold by: Crappy Old Books 365 Days of Poetry, Prophecy, Divine Inspiration and the Unsettling Possibility That Reality Is Not Quite What It Seems Most calendars are perfectly straightforward affairs. They inform us that Monday follows Sunday, February is unreasonably short, and the dentist expects us at half past ten on Thursday. They feature pictures of kittens, attractive landscapes, steam locomotives or occasionally scantily clad celebrities, and their principal purpose is to remind us that time is passing rather more quickly than we would prefer. William Blake, however, was not the sort of man to be satisfied with such mundane considerations. Blake saw angels in trees, communicated with spiritual beings, challenged religious orthodoxy, questioned the foundations of society and believed that the human imagination possessed powers extending far beyond the narrow limitations imposed by conventional reason. His universe was populated by visions, prophetic figures, divine energies and cosmic struggles that made everyday Georgian England seem positively uneventful. Consequently, a calendar devoted to his writings was never likely to resemble something given away by a local insurance broker. Published in London by Frank Palmer in 1913, The William Blake Calendar offers a quotation from the works of the visionary English poet and artist for every day of the year. The selections were made by Thomas Wright, an enthusiastic student of Blake?s life and writings, who evidently concluded that the average person could benefit from a daily encounter with one of Britain?s most extraordinary literary minds. It is a charming, unusual and thoroughly thought-provoking little volume, offering readers the opportunity to spend an entire year in the company of a man who regarded ordinary reality as merely the beginning of the conversation. And, unlike most calendars, it remains perfectly serviceable more than a century after publication. January: Abandon Your Conventional Understanding of Existence William Blake was born in London in 1757, a period when Enlightenment thinkers were enthusiastically promoting reason, scientific investigation and the systematic classification of practically everything. Blake was not entirely persuaded. While his contemporaries sought to explain the universe through rational principles and empirical observation, Blake insisted that imagination, spiritual perception and visionary experience were fundamental to human existence. This did not make him especially convenient company. He was a poet, painter, engraver and mystic whose works challenged established religious and social assumptions. He produced extraordinary illuminated books in which poetry and visual imagery combined to create deeply personal mythological worlds. His writings encompass innocence and experience, freedom and repression, divine inspiration, human suffering, political oppression and the eternal struggle between imagination and the forces that seek to constrain it. Some of his shorter poems are among the most recognisable in English literature. Others are so dense with symbolism and private mythology that even determined scholars occasionally appear to need a stiff drink and a quiet afternoon before attempting an explanation. Yet Blake?s words possess a remarkable intensity. A brief passage can suggest an entire philosophy, challenge a cherished assumption or transform an ordinary observation into something charged with spiritual significance. This makes his writings particularly suitable for the unusual format adopted by The William Blake Calendar . Instead of requiring readers to undertake an extended expedition through one of his elaborate prophetic works, it presents a small portion of his imagination each day. Which is probably wise. Too much Blake before breakf.…