The Portable William Blake (Portable Library) [Paperback]

William Blake (Author), Alfred Kazin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 1977 | Series: Portable Library

'SONGS OF INNOCENCE' AND 'SONGS OF EXPERIENCE', COMPLETE SELECTION FROM THE 'PROPHETIC BOOKS' AND FROM OTHER WORKS OF POETRY AND PROSE. THE COMPLETE DRAWINGS OF "THE BOOK OF JOB" 'AN INSPIRED SELECTION' - THE NEW YORK TIMES. "BLAKE IS NOWHERE BETTER PRESENTED FOR THE GENERAL READER. THE INTRODUCTION IS .. PROBABLY THE BEST ESSAY YET COMPOSED ON THE SUBJECT " - SATURDAY REVIEW.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 24, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140150269
• ISBN-13: 978-0140150261
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good anthology, not so great presentation, January 28, 2010

By 

Fernando A. Belisario - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Portable William Blake (Portable Library) (Paperback)

This book contains a very good selection of Blake's most important and beautiful texts, and I have enjoyed reading it very much. My only complain is the quality of the paper which is very low, like mass-market paperback it resembles newspaper in texture and smell. There is a section of the book that reproduces some of his engravings in black and white, which is but a shadow of Blake's grandiose visual imagery.

If you want to sample some of this authors work on a budget, to see if you like it, then this book may be for you. But for Blake lovers there are better volumes, of complete works, some of them illustrated in color. That's what I will be purchasing next.

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The introduction alone is worth the price of admission, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Portable William Blake (Portable Library) (Paperback)

The best of William Blake (and then some!), taken off the shelf, dusted off and propped up for the rest of eternity to consider. From the aphorisms of "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (required reading) to the later prophetic books, it's Blake in all of his...Blakeness. And let's give a hand to Kazin for his fantastic Introduction to one of the heavy-hitters of the Western tradition.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great Blake and the mediocre one, August 2, 2011

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Portable William Blake (Portable Library) (Paperback)

Alfred Kazin in his introduction to this work stresses the loneliness of Blake in his own world and time. Blake was one of the very few great masters as visual and as literary artist. But he was largely neglected in his own time and his works went largely unsold. Despite this loneliness and rejection he forged a vision of the world. As literary artist Blake was a supreme master of the Poetry of Childhood. His 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' are far greater works than his longer Poems of Prophecy. Blake did not understand this , any more than he understood that he lacked any real gift as Dramatic Artist and was primarily a romantic lyric poet. As Kazin points out Blake had little interest in History and little in the process of character transformation through experience. His characters are Abstract Qualities like the Accuser Satan the guilt- causing Urizen. Blake mixes the archaic Biblical scenes with scenes of modern life. He seems to live in a 'now' of his own creation. Blake's relation to marriage and sexuality were an important part of his work. Sin was bound up with hiddenness and forbiddeness. Kazin claims that Blake's marriage was not as ideal as made out in legend.
This Anthology contains the major literary works of Blake, and the excellent introduction by Kazin. I recommend focusing on the 'good parts' and avoiding insofar as possible the mythologizing abstractions of much of Blake's Prophetic and Dramatic poetry.