18Th Century

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18th Century

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Pre-modern society, modern infrastructure - political power till feudal. Disturbed by the French and American revolution. Paine's The Rights of Man. The national myth (Great Britain as a new country), radicalism (political) - emergence of the romantic movement.

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Radical Politics in Blake

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London - demonstration of inequality, child exploitation, prostitution, surveillance, death, gross poverty, the Church, the government.

The Chimney Sweeper:

SOI: Marx's false consciousness pre-empted - death preferred to the exploitation suffered by the Chimney Sweeper - critique of the Church

SOE: More nuanced view, outside narrative voice - 'little black thing in the snow' - parents also intimated into the suffering of children.

Songs of Innocence - satirises the didactic poems of the Christian religion.

The Little Black Boy - critique of slavery, exploitation of children, white supremacy - naivety as a conduit to exploitation.

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Radical Politics in Burns

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For A' That and A' That - Moral worth not based upon wealth, breaking down of class based system, importance of self-esteem and independence of the working class. Espouses the principles of the French and American Revolution.

To A Mouse - 'nature's social union' - instability of the mouse mirrors that of the working class speaker - lack of freedom, agriculture, 'counter' as life and death - worse off than the mouse - description of the state of being as a lower class Scottish worker.

Nationalistic sentiment - reclamation of Scottish voice and poetic tradition

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Radical Religion of Blake

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Songs of Innocence - The Lamb - conception of God, innocence as Paradise - prior to original sin but not immune to the institutions of the fallen world - The Chimney Sweeper - exploration allowed by the Church - reinterpretation of Christian doctrine.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - Blake's theology - unification of the contrary nature of God, resolve states of innocence and experience - removal of constraints and subjection, introduction of liberty/imagination/creation/physicality - chaos of Hell, order of Heaven.

Proverbs of Hell - deliberately provocative, seeking to energise, infused with Miltonic theology/sentiment. Imitation of Biblical sentiment - repressive nature of conventional morality and institutional religion.

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Radical Religion of Burns

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Holy Willie's Prayer - satire on the Scottish Kirk - Calvinistic notions of the Elect - attack upon the bigotry and hypocrisy of the Kirk - justifies his own transgressions yet asks for excessive punishment of fellow sinners. Criticism of Calvinist theology - Auld Licht and New Licht.