It's a short attempt to provide a good material on William Blake as a social Critic.

2. Presented by : Muhammad Sufyan
sufyanjani54@gmail.com
0300-4580655

3. 1. About Writer
2. What is criticism?
3. Era of William Blake
4. Blake as a critic
5. Unhappy world
6. Liberty and freedom
7. Criticise on society
8. Repression/Uproar in society
9. Criticism on church
10. Misery in society
11. Slavery in society
12. Conclusion

4.  William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827)
was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely
unrecognized during his lifetime. In 2002, Blake was
placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100
Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his
entire life (except for three years spent in Felpham), he
produced a diverse and symbolically rich curve, which
embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or
"human existence itself“.
 Blake was died on 12 August 1827 (aged 69)
Charing Cross, London, Great Britain.

5.  The act of passing severe judgment; censure;
faultfinding.
 . A critical comment, article, or essay; critique.
 the expression of disapproval of someone or
something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes.

6.  Period of social change(reform bill 1832).
 French Revolution and its impact(1789).
 Period of repression(john & Leigh Hunt 1811).
 Slums and plight of the poor.
 Tide of reforms returns

7.  William Blake is a social critic of his time. Who does
he criticise and what does he think about the poor,
especially poor
 Blake was very critical towards the Church despite
being a firm believer of God. He thought that the
Church were overpowering the poor side of the
Country. Blake would get his message through to
others in the use of poetry, if people studied the poems
they would get a clear idea of Blake's views.

8.  ‘Songs of Innocence’ was written in 1789, five years
earlier than 'Songs of Experience'. This book contains
poems of trickery, I say this because if you just read
the poems you would think that he is writing about
happiness, but if you look harder at each line
individually you would see that he is trying to state the
unhappiness in the world, the darker side of the
poems.

9.  The other book 'Songs of Experience' contains some
of the same titles of poems but with different contents.
If you compare the two books you will see that this
book contains the truth about the world, with the
misery. Everyone was certain in thinking if they work
as what they are and work hard at it, they will go to
heaven. People on the poor side thought going to
heaven would be freedom.

10.  The poet himself was brought up in the centre of
English social resistance. Being a successful artist,
Blake’s ways of fighting against the social vices is
through the media of art. And in his Songs of
Innocence and Songs of Experience the poet depicts
and criticizes the corrupted and ill shaped English
society of his period.

11.  ‘London’ is one of the most famous poems of Blake’s
volume in which the poet has criticizes the
contemporary society. We find a horrifying picture of
London society. Every line of the poem contains a
satiric tone. Here the poet decries the three great evils
of society callousness of society, the adversity of war
and lust
“ I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”

12.  He is comparing the river, which is navigated with
charts, to London's streets, which now are regulated so
that there is no longer any freedom left. The image
created by "charter'd" is meant to create a sense of
constriction and impaired freedom. This lack of
freedom (or, another way, too much restriction) has
created a population whose faces show only "marks of
weakness, marks of woe."

13. “In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear”
 The poet says: “ In every cry of every man In very
infant’s every of fear The mind forged manacles I hear”
The poet also describes the wretched condition of the
chimney sweeper, Chimney sweeper’s cry seems to
have blackened every church and made it through

14. “How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls”

15.  Blake condemns the church for not providing comfort
to the poorest of the society--represented by the
chimney sweeps--and points out the the government
(the "Palace") doesn't really care about the fate of the
soldiers that protect its interests. This is a protrait of a
society in which institutions that should care for the
people have completely abandoned them. When Blake
uses "every black'ning Church," it's quite likely that he
means two things: the churches in London are black
with soot from coal fires, and, more important, the
church has blackened the souls of London's citizens by
ignoring their plight.

16. “Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of
song
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of
Heaven among
Beneath them sit the aged men wise
guardians of the poor
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from
your door”

17.  According to the poet, Charity is unnecessary because
England is fairly prosperous and she can easily provide
as much food as the children require. But in this rich
and fruitful land children live in misery.
 Ultimately, the poem's subject is the destruction of a
society brought about, in part, by each citizen's
complete inability to correct any of the society's
problems and by the ruling class, represented by the
church and the government.

18.  ‘The Little Black Boy' is from Songs of Innocence and
was published in 1789. At this time in England, slavery
was still legal and would not be abolished until 1834.
Let's look at the text of the poem and summarize it:
'My mother bore me in the Southern wild,
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child:
But I am black as if bereav'd of light.'

19.  In this stanza, Blake is introducing the little black boy
who was born in Africa ('the Southern wild'). He
brings up the colors of white, which is often associated
with 'good' things like angels, and black, which is often
associated with 'bad' things like darkness ('bereav'd of
light').

20.  William Blake is a social critic of his time. Blake was
very critical towards the Church despite being a firm
believer of God. He thought that the Church were
overpowering the poor side of the Country. Blake is
emphasizing that the poor have to be prostitutes to
make money. William Blake chose to criticise the
Church and the wealthy, including the priests and the
King.