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Madness and Blake's Myth / Paul Youngquist.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©1990Description: 1 online resource (212 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780271075143
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 821/.7
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Refuge from unbelief -- 2. Lyric into Myth -- 3. King, Creator, Madman -- 4. Schizophrenia and the Ancient Man -- 5. Trial and Defense -- Notes -- Index
Summary: This book offers the first systematic study of madness and its significance for the poetry of William Blake. Blake's reputation as an artist was long clouded by suspicions of madness. Although the great victory of his modern critics has been to see his work clearly, unobstructed by this prejudice, criticism now runs the risk of vindicating Blake the poet at the expense of understanding certain elements of his poetry. In Madness and Blake's Myth, Paul Youngquist argues that, in its thematic content and dramatic method, Blake's myth is about madness. From the early lyrics to the late epic-prophecies, Blake repeatedly dramatizes the dissociation of a unified mind in a manner that comes increasingly to resemble the major symptoms of mental illness. Drawing upon recent clinical and philosophical inquiries, Youngquist shows how Blake makes poetry out of mental suffering; madness comes to operate in his myth as a metaphor for the Fall. For all its literary sophistication, however, Blake's mythology serves specific psychological needs, acquiring a therapeutic function for Blake personally as a defense against the madness it dramatizes. Madness and Blake's Myth is a challenging reexamination of both a sophisticated literary achievement and the mind that conceived it.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780271075143

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Refuge from unbelief -- 2. Lyric into Myth -- 3. King, Creator, Madman -- 4. Schizophrenia and the Ancient Man -- 5. Trial and Defense -- Notes -- Index

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This book offers the first systematic study of madness and its significance for the poetry of William Blake. Blake's reputation as an artist was long clouded by suspicions of madness. Although the great victory of his modern critics has been to see his work clearly, unobstructed by this prejudice, criticism now runs the risk of vindicating Blake the poet at the expense of understanding certain elements of his poetry. In Madness and Blake's Myth, Paul Youngquist argues that, in its thematic content and dramatic method, Blake's myth is about madness. From the early lyrics to the late epic-prophecies, Blake repeatedly dramatizes the dissociation of a unified mind in a manner that comes increasingly to resemble the major symptoms of mental illness. Drawing upon recent clinical and philosophical inquiries, Youngquist shows how Blake makes poetry out of mental suffering; madness comes to operate in his myth as a metaphor for the Fall. For all its literary sophistication, however, Blake's mythology serves specific psychological needs, acquiring a therapeutic function for Blake personally as a defense against the madness it dramatizes. Madness and Blake's Myth is a challenging reexamination of both a sophisticated literary achievement and the mind that conceived it.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Jun 2021)