William Blake and the Language of Adam
Robert N. Essick(Author)
Clarendon Press
Published on 1. January 1989
Book
Hardback
280 pages
978-0-19-812985-1 (ISBN)
Description
This study sets William Blake's language concepts and practices within a broad context of linguistic history, offering a new perspective on his poetry. An introductory consideratin of four of Blake's paintings raises some basic questions in semiotic theory addressed and follows with a history of the idea of a motivated sign from Plato to Wilhelm von Humboldt. Converting this background into a hermeneutic, the author demonstrates Blake's contributions to the mystical tradition and his critique of eighteenth century linguistic doctrines that culminates in a parodic deconstruction of rationalist sign theory in "The Book of Urizen". The concluding two chapters treat Blake's compositional practices, his development of these into a transactional view of language and the apocalyptic reordering of the relationship between meaning and being in "Jerusalem". The critical and historical methods exemplified by this study offer some fresh ways of thinking about literature and its relations to linguistics.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
8 illustrations, bibliography
ISBN-13
978-0-19-812985-1 (9780198129851)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
"Adam Naming the Beasts" and its companions; in pursuit of the motivated sign; natural signs and the Fall of language; language and modes of production; the return to Logos; afterword - romantic languages and modern methodologies.