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3.0 out of 5 stars
Empire Is No More!, Nov 1 2000
William Blake's prophetic poems, "America" and "Europe" were both written almost twenty years after the American Revolution began, and about five years or so after the start of the French Revolution in the late 1700's. Both poems exhibit Blake's intense engagement with the socio-political atmosphere of his time. Both address contemporary figures: King George III of England, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and so on. Over this layer of response to history, Blake mythologizes the spirits of the age with his own pantheon of fantastic, complicated personalities, like Orc, the fiery spirit of revolution, and his primary opponent, Urizen, the spirit of rationality, order, and law. "America" deals with the American Revolution in retrospect, and meanwhile Blake is thinking about recent developments in France in the early 1790's. Blake questions the persistence of African slavery, both in America and in the British slave trade (note the reference to Bristol towards the end). He also looks critically at the pervasive and often perverted influence in the British Empire of law, both religious and political. "Europe" looks at the after effects of the American Revolution, and how the spirit of rebellion, spreading already in "America" to Ireland and Scotland, advances through Europe, especially to France. "Europe" tries to explain the history of conflict in the world since the time of Christ. "Europe" is much more abstracted from human history than "America," depending more on the conflicts between Blake's mythical personages. This edition of "America" and "Europe" published by Dover is of a decent quality. The prints of Blake's illustrations are in full color, and page-sized to allow for close perusal of his intricate designs. The copies of the poems seem to have been chosen for the least background color contrast, making Blake's script readable. However, there are more brilliantly colored versions of both than we get in this edition. The poems themselves are included in plain text following the illustrated versions. Each poem is prefixed by a moderately helpful explanation, though too simplistic in both cases - many of the plate descriptions do not even mention all the figures or objects in each plate, which can detract from the fullest enjoyment of the Blake novice. On the whole, the poetry will always be phenomenal - however, in this Dover edition, the presentation leaves something to be desired.
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