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Awake!

William Blake and the Power of the Imagination

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Awake!

By: Mark Vernon
Narrated by: Michael Page
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About this listen

In the 200 years since Blake's death, the visionary artist, poet, and writer has become a household name, often beloved. Yet many struggle to comprehend his kaleidoscopic ideas; how they speak to human longings and the challenges of living in anxious times.

Philosopher and psychotherapist Mark Vernon provides a fresh route into Blake, taking him at his word. Exploring this brilliant thinker's passionate writings, arresting artworks, and fascinating life, Vernon illuminates Blake's vivid worldview. Like us, he lived in a tumultuous era of war, discontent, rapid technological change, and human estrangement from nature. He exposed the dark sides of political fervor and social moralizing, while unashamedly celebrating love and liberty. But he also conversed with prophets and angels, and was powerfully, if unconventionally, religious. If we take this seriously—not easy, in secular times—then Blake can help us to unlock the transformative power of imagination.

Written for both longstanding fans and those unfamiliar with his work, Awake! reveals Blake as an invigorating and hopeful guide for our modern age.

©2025 Mark Vernon (P)2025 Tantor Media Art & Literature Authors War

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Vernon sets out the development of Blake's thought and work in the context of his life and times. He shows how his world view with it's emphasis on use of the imagination contrasted with the developing modernist view and provides a useful insight to readers of Blake who finds his work difficult to understand. He also shows how Blake's way of apprehending the world have him hope in adversity, giving food for personal reflection for readers today.

Illuminating overview

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The book is a fascinating introduction to Blake and his work, but the reading is disappointingly uninvolved and robotic, despite the sonorous voice. There is a problem relying on actors to read books if this sort - they know how to project their voice and sound resonant but they show no real interest or involvement in the text they are reading. It should have been a pleasure but became a real trial. In the end I cancelled.

Great book - lifeless reading

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