William Blake - Collected Works BOOK REVIEW

[@christopherpaul7588]

"Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to endless night." Jim Jarmusch paid homage to Blake in such an awesome way in his movie Dead Man.

[@jymwrite]

Jim Morrison as well in the song, End of the Night.

[@adrianac3258]

Love your reviews this really touched my soul as you said let Willam Blake be a mad man, through his visions he was so inmersed in the world around him and all cosmic reality , that autonomy of his is what all humans should thrive for.Thank you very much !!

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+adriana adriana You're very welcome.

[@januaryfrost2872]

love this setting!

[@allofthemmilkingwithgreenf7493]

+January Frost Yeah, I agree. It fits the spoken words so perfectly. Contains a great atmosphere while still manages to keep the focus on what is been said.

[@themagicofmoney]

This is my favourite post so far; the subject, the setting, the jacket. Boom.

[@ranns160]

I have been listening to Neville Goddard and he speaks of Blake most every lecture so I decided to look around on KZbin and found you. Thank you.

[@brightlights23]

This review is so much VIBEZ. I think I need more of Blake's imagery in my life.

[@Yessnatathlete]

My favorite piece of William Blake is Auguries of Innocence: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour A Robin Red breast in a Cage Puts all Heaven in a Rage A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons Shudders Hell thr' all its regions A dog starvd at his Masters Gate Predicts the ruin of the State

[@Tordah90]

Blake was dangerously ahead of the curve. I read him voraciously in my formative years, dude was the epitome of cool for me, painted, wrote like the wisest of souls, wasn't afraid to give the finger to the snobs & pricks. I wonder if he would like Swans, just like Bill Hicks thoughts on Facebook. They all check out way too soon. Will you consider reviewing The Book of the Five Rings?

[@T4wsi5w47w7]

+Tordah90 Looks like everybody in this channel love Swans. I don´t like romanticism in literature, but after this video and me seeing that is not difficult to read him in the original(Blake is kinda unknown here in Brazil) I´ve decided to read him. And yeah his drawings are so cool.

[@mtknight7]

Just read "The Tyger" in a philosophy of religion class, that line "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" gave me chills as well, and I was in a heated classroom.

[@christopherpaul7588]

What was it about the Romantic Poets? I'm very cynical of poetry. I think it's such a refined form of literature that it's extremely difficult to do well. I love the Beats, but Allen Ginsberg had one brilliant book, Howl, and then it was all downhill from there. Like you, I also love Bolaño. The Savage Detectives is my favorite novel of all time but Bolaño's poetry does nothing for me, although he considered himself a poet. I love Rimbaud, Plath, and maybe a handful of other poets. But the Romantics!! I went to London just to visit John Keats' house. I love Shelley, Keats, and Blake. As well as a few others. That was a special time and place for poetry!

[@DTOblivion]

Good stuff. You should check out Ulver's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. It's based entirely around Blake's poem.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+Luke Pajowski Yup - was a big fan of that about 10 years ago.

[@athenassigil5820]

You look like a cross between Mathew Modine and Ryan Gosling. I love your reviews and in particular, this one and the one on Virgil's Georgics. Long live poetry and the mystical.

[@Foojum]

Yo, Songs of Experience is my jam.

[@BlueDusk95]

William Blake was like the hybrid of Spinoza's depth of thought and Beethoven's sense of splendour.

[@bastionofthefaith92]

You should read Tobias Churton if you want more insight into Blake's spiritualism. He even has an entire book on him.

[@stefaniecallista5027]

The Clod and The Pebble is a favourite of mine from Blake

[@chokingmessiah]

05:47 I agree completely, Cliff. We as artists must enter both heaven and hell, extending our consciousness to encompass every conceivable state in the universe that we can or cannot imagine. Rimbaud, Blake, Shelley. We transport ourselves beyond limits. "Every poet is like an exiled angel." -Castelar "Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers." -Marshall McLuhan "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." -Shelley Cliff, you should read the essay entitled "The Poet" by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the essay "A Defense of Poetry" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. They're not too long and spot on.

[@lewismccaskill4274]

These review's are just brilliant and have opened me up to literature I would maybe of never gotten to (or least way down the line). Have you ever read 1982, Janine by Alasdair Gray? Brilliant book. Perhaps Gray's best but his first novel Lanark is truly great as well.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+Lewis McCaskill That's what I'm aiming for! No I haven't, I'll look into it, thanks man.

[@franciscokaio3472]

Wonderful video! Congratulations from Brazil.

[@thomastheobscure351]

Hey, I was wondering, have your read any Cioran, besides that collection of aphorisms called ''The Trouble With Being Born'' (De l'inconvenient d'etre ne - the original title in French)? I'm asking this because from what I've seen you seem to be quite fond of essays, and the truth is, speaking of essays, not many can compare to Cioran. I'm Romanian myself (as Cioran...) so I've got to read his first books (written in his 20s, in Romanian), which are mainly composed of essays, but I think his best work is the one from later on, think ''History and Utopia'', ''The Temptation to Exist'', ''A Short History of Decay'', ''The Fall into Time'' - these are entirely made of essays which, while tingled with gall (or with what Cioran calls ''amertume''), are one of the most refined and stylized pieces of writing. I'd absolutely love to see a review on one of these, and I'm sure you'd love their content too! He's, simply put, one of the greatest stylist of the 20th century, and by far the greatest moralist of his era.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

I. Am. Thrilled - no sarcasm, that you wrote this. I agree with you, and he deserves so much more than what I've said about him - please check back tomorrow around noon NYC time for the new review. You will enjoy. And thank you for being on the same wavelength, what are the odds? Incredible...thanks for watching.

[@thomastheobscure351]

+Better Than Food: Book Reviews Blimey! It's pretty hard to find people that appreciate, or have read Cioran (or, at least, have fricking heard about him!), for he is not really a popular choice because, well, he's not popular I guess - mainly unknown. But I think that's how he liked it, as he himself says... somewhere:“Do I look like someone who has something to do here on earth? -That's what I'd like to answer the busybodies who inquire into my activities.” Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing your review! I like your taste in terms of literature!

[@paradiceislost9]

I've been reexamining a load of Bosch painting and think he does something similar in blending these contorted figures from the rim of sanity with, then, contemporary artistic, religious and scientific advances. In the same way as Blake the man was clearly touched but had this way of bringing it into the everyday , maybe if there's anything to take from their work is to see the illuminate side to insanity beyond slobbering wrecks.

[@paradiceislost9]

+paradiceislost9 Also there was that time he had a fight with a drunken solider who later had him charged with treason, claiming Blake had 'damned the King and said that soldiers were all slaves'.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+paradiceislost9 What a magnificent story...

[@mishababernathy7165]

Great review Cliff!

[@bk2524]

He was definitely a Christian. He just had gnostic ideas and didn't like organized religion. But his faith is undeniable

[@vrixphillips]

I just watched this after your review of Journey to the End of the Night, and in both of these you've mentioned (in passing) sex and prostitutes. So naturally I figure you might enjoy reading Vollmann's The Royal Family or Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and hopefully review them; I'd love to hear your opinion!

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Excellent - I'll get on it, much appreciated

[@FIT2BREAD]

Have you read Tiger, Tiger, AKA The Stars My Destination? Its SciFi, which I'm guessing isn't your first go to genre, but I'm curious if you'd like it...

[@trevorhendry3456]

keep it up, I always enjoy your videos!

[@dystopianlove88]

I'm a bit afraid that you'll never do a Faulkner review... (Absalom ;) )

[@lordmaximus5]

Great vid, really enjoyed it

[@nathangavigan544]

Check out W.B Yeats. "The Stolen Child" was the first time a poem really affected me.

[@nataly2922]

awesome set u look like in a movie! poetic great

[@TuanLeKreuk]

Philip Larkin?

[@AlEX95RbT]

As always, love your reviews. But what i need to know right now is WHAT IS THAT JACKET? Because that is seriously the best jacket i have ever seen.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+4eyed Thank you very much, Belstaff - was an investment. Not cheap, but I needed one good one, and that thing will almost certainly outlive me. Thank you very much for watching.

[@rubyparchment5523]

Cliff, you're looking so cute, out in the drizzly snow, in your Hipster outfit!

[@jenniferlavoie2548]

Blake is a fav.

[@westclox4235]

Love your reviews mate!! By any chance could you review Inferno by Dante :-) keep up the fantastic work :-)

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+westclox4235 Yup, we're getting there, thanks for watching!

[@asderc1]

Is your "main point" 7:38 a quote from The Fall - Before the Moon Falls

[@czgibson3086]

It's very similar and MES was surely referencing Blake with these lines: I must create a new regime Or live by another man's Before the moon falls I must create a new scheme And get out of others' hands Before the moon falls

[@sameenshakya5188]

Great channel great thumbnails immediately subscribed

[@waylonwraith5266]

10:00 100% If “sanity” is anything other than self-transcendent enlightenment resulting in extreme bodhisattva-like compassion for all other sentient beings, it isn’t worth anything-it isn’t even sanity. Such so-called “sanity” is but the mask that cold, calculating, status quo perpetuating, self-interested people wear in order to avoid seeing, reflected in the mirror, their irreducibly unethical lives. This is why what’s considered “sane” changes so easily from century to century: because it has nothing to do with interpersonal, or even _personal_ well being. Accept corruption and you’re “sane”, fight against it and you’re “crazy”... it’s as simple as that on this bitch of an earth.

[@averykral9654]

Have you heard Glenn Branca?

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+Avery Kral I had a theoretical girls period, yes.

[@williamnelson792]

i think eye is pronounced 'e' to rhyme with symmetry

[@austinkral]

That trench coat is incredible...

[@briancollins1296]

I find this review a e s t h e t i c a l l y pleasing.

[@randallhernandez7686]

My mother actually introduced me to Blake and gave me this very copy. So amazing.

[@mohammedhanif6780]

you look like a young matthew modine.

[@thomasrex8918]

YES!!!!

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+Mohammed Hanif Thank you, I've definitely gotten that.

[@mohammedhanif6780]

Better Than Food: Book Reviews I can imagine. You simply must review Flowers for Algernon. But if there is one book I'd like you're thoughts on, it's Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.

[@108gamma]

you have excellent taste!

[@DallasDrone]

You should review Burroughs.

[@u4n273]

I say Milton already knew. Just wouldn't say it out loud.

[@T4wsi5w47w7]

+u4n knew what?

[@czgibson3086]

That could well be true. He was already controversial for putting Christian mythology on a level with Greek mythology so coming right out and saying "Hail Satan!" may have been a bit risky.

[@meesalikeu]

goes to brooklyn suddenly cursing like a sailor 😂

[@Malik-ji3mz]

WHERE DO I BUY THAT COAT?

[@aristotle4048]

Any Witold Gombrowicz?

[@moniqueedwards8723]

Well I'm sold. You had me at brain...

[@JoieSauvage_Lectures]

What's your Twitter ? 😄

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+HajarRead twitter.com/BksBtrThnFood ;)

[@johnnyshaman3525]

Awesome! Well done Mr. Sargent & Mr Smith! Thank You! Autonomy Rules! BLAKE! Albrecht Dürer! FUCK YEAH!

[@RB939393]

Do you have a Facebook fan page?

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

+Reid Betten Not really - not a fan of fb.

[@Tolstoy111]

15:22

[@cometcourse381]

"This one's very famous and I'm sure some of you have heard it before. This is called The Tiger. The tiger He destroyed his cage Yes YES The tiger is out"

[@LuneFlaneuse]

💙✨

[@ezekielyu4294]

William f***king Blake. Good stuff.

[@Ryan_Ek2]

Bruh it's time to sell out and start reviewing YA novels. That's where the KZbin $$$ is at.

[@sameenshakya5188]

Heaven forbid

[@clementine8996]

Those damn trucks paid no respect at all neither to Blake nor to you and that wonderful setting ;)

[@u4n273]

+Clémentine City life man. Better than loud cows right?

[@hunter24olemissfan]

+u4n not at all. I live on a farm. In Mississippi

[@u4n273]

No offence.

[@shaunnortje999]

SANCTION-THE BOOK

[@edleonardleonard8045]

I wonder would Blake be a vblogger were he alive today. I don't agree keeping him insane; I know what you mean but why not just say he was sane and the others are insane?

[@blackmetalmagick1]

One and only English poet? I don't think so. For me Byron and Shakespeare are 100 times better than Blake. You should try Pope, Shelley, Coleridge, Owen, Dryden, Clare, Swinburne: just to name a few.

[@blackmetalmagick1]

Also the 16th 17th centuries have produced beautiful poets

[@hunter24olemissfan]

You're an idiot.