Lord Byron Blog

      I found the Lord Byron blog, created by Sydney Leliefield, Alejandra Hernandez, Natasha King, and Dani Henry, to be quite helpful and exciting. Their blog is devoted to the romantic poet Lord Byron; the posts contain information about his life and his love of poetry.

      I really liked the Lord Byron Blog. The layout was similar to the layout of my groups’ blog, and great minds think alike. The picture at the top of the page was a nice touch, along with the brief description of their poet. The blogs’ themselves were very interesting to read, with titles like “The Adventures of Lord Byron” and “Lord Byron and Vampires” how could they not be?

      I especially enjoyed the vampire post. Today’s culture seems to be centered around vampires and their mysterious appearance. It was a really good addition to the blog, taking something so intriguing and including it. It was interesting to learn that Lord Byron had such an affect on the vampire culture. If not for him I might not be reading Twilight today. It is extraordinary that Byron was able to imagine such an exciting and demonic character, especially since it would have been a novel one for the 18th century.

Another thing I liked was the “She Walks In Beauty” post. I thought it was very smart to put a bit of background information about why Lord Byron wrote the poem, along with what it truly meant. That really helped to personify the poet.

      While reading the website saw “The Adventures of Lord Byron” on the blog page, captivated by the title I was surprised to find that the post was a biography of the poet. This post brought Byron to life and was an interesting read. I found it contrasted the other Byron biography well, “Lord Byron’s Biography”, they each had different information yet both contained interesting elements of his life.

      Overall The Lord Byron blog was presented very well. It had good selections of Lord Byron’s life, and works. I learned a lot about the poet simply from reading the very well explained posts. The site was easy to explore and navigate, which is helpful for someone like me who is not familiar with the blogging world. I believe that the group did very well on this blog, and I enjoyed visiting their site.

A young Lord Byron deep in thought

William Blake and His Memorable Career

      William Blake was a British poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver, who illustrated and printed his own books. Born in Soho, London on November 28, 1757 where he lived and spent most of his life. Throughout his young childhood years he also claimed to have visions of angles, monks, and God. His parents did not believe him when he would tell them his tales of paranormal activity, but the two observed that he was very different from his peers. Blake had a quite odd upbringing; he left school at the young age of ten, and for five years attended the Henry Pars Drawing Academy. At the age of twelve he began writing poetry and in 1783 printed his first collection of verses “Poetical Sketches”.

      Soon at age fourteen he found the art school to be very costly, this forced him to find a job. Even though he showed a great ability as a poet, his career was an engraver. He worked under engraver James Basire from 1772 to 1784 when he opened his own printing shop. The 80’s were indeed big years for him because in 1782 William Blake married Catherine Boucher, an illiterate woman who he taught to read and write.

      After the printing shop failed Blake had to make a scanty living as an engraver and an illustrator for magazines and books. Soon he created his first book, Songs of Innocence, which he finished in 1789. It is said that Blake created Songs of Innocence because of the visions he had of his brother Robert, after Robert’s death. It was not long before he also finished The Book of Thel and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, two greatly respected works of philosophical ideas. He concluded his poetic works with Songs of Experience in 1794. Blake was influenced by the society he lived in and his disgust with that society, radical religious ideas, and drastic political issues is displayed through Songs of Innocence and Experience.

      Blake was preoccupied with good versus evil. History shows that he never stopped illustrating his philosophical and religious beliefs in his poetry, art, and engravings. Sadly, William Blake died at the age of sixty-nine on August 18, 1827, buried in an unmarked public grave. After his death his works became more prominent and Blake’s name more known. He is one of the most celebrated romantic poets, and his artistic legacy sill lives on today.