A smart piece that provoked some smart responses! Childrens’ books used to be called “nonsense verse”—and for me, Willard shows how its the nonsensical side of Blake that seems most light-hearted. It’s when he starts to make sense that he gets scary. So this book uses Blake as a way to urge kids to stop trying to make sense all of the time, to imagine as well as understand. It’s a reduced version of Blake, for sure, but not that I can see him objecting too strenuously to.

I used to read this book to my daughters when they were little. I think they were probably indulging me a little!

~jh

What an interesting text to stumble upon! I’d love to see it, if you have a copy you could lend me.

Right now, it’s hard for me to decide what Morice’s intent might be. Your idea that he’s making a connection between Blake and Frankenstein as creators/scientists is intriguing, but I also wonder, along with Katherine Z, if he isn’t suggesting that God is a kind of Tyger? (Sort of an angry, Jehovah-like god.) But it’s hard to tell without seeing more of the work.

Perhaps you could offer some more context for your reading in a revision? Interesting stuff!

~jh

I think you make a good case here for viewing Dylan as “Blake-like”—in his use of a child-like narrator, his appeals to altered realms of existence, his alliance with protest and rebellion.

But I’d be interested if there was also, as Kevin puts it, a more “direct connection” between Dylan and Blake. Is there anything in “Tambourine Man” that makes you think that Dylan had Blake in mind as he wrote it? (Perhaps you’ve said this and I missed it?)

~jh

It turns out you can’t stream Get Him, so I’m still, at this point, waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail. Even still, you persuade me here that “Infant Sorrow” (a) makes a joke about the “Britishness” of Snow and his band, (b) makes a joke about their intellectual and political pretensions, and (c) might also make a joke about the little-boys-in-men’s-bodies that seem such popular characters in movies these days. Okay, so I’m extrapolating a little in (c) from what you have to say, but I’d be interested to learn whether you agree or not.

A fun piece!

~jh

As the other Joe says, what a super-sweet analysis—of both the song and the Blake engraving! What I’d really like to know, though, is what line(s) from the song made you look differently at the engraving. And where and how does the engraving function as part of the album art? Why do you think the band wanted to reference Blake—why not just sing the song (since I don’t think they directly quote any lyrics in it, do they?)

And while I get Mary’s point about why bands might want to offer alternative versions of songs on their albums, the Chipmunk version drove me crazy. But, otherwise, as she says, WtheM seems ” a groovy band.”

Nice work!

~jh

I like the idea of Blake as a precursor to Christian rock! You show both how FIF seems very intentional in their referencing of Blake and how they pick up on many of his ideas about faith, innocence, and experiences.

But I also think the line of questioning raised by Deja, Sarah, and Catherine would be a very interesting one to explore: Does Five Iron Frenzy share Blake’s suspicion of organized religion (as opposed to a more idiosyncratic and dissenting spirituality)?

An intriguing piece,

~jh