Nature`s Philosophy in Blake`s Songs of Seasons
Blake was considerably older than the other tradition"Romantics":13 years older than Wordsworth, 15 years older than Coleridge. He was born in London in 1757and died in 1827. Nature is greatly a very problematic concept that disrupt the calmness of people a long time ago. It is around us and we are part of it . Thus this leads human being to question its changes and phenomena. They worship it out of fears and sometimes out of admiration and wonder. This term actually is juxtaposed with ideas about culture which in a sense is what Romanticism is all about. Some critics believe that William Blake is not a romantic, however, there are many poems show that he is a romantic poet. David Stevens said in Romanticism "William Blake provides a convenient and illuminating touches in this context, if only because his views were so definite and vehemently expressed"49. Blake`s songs of seasons : "To Spring", "To Summer", "To Autumn", "To Winter" are taken from his book Poetical Sketches . These poems reveal Blake`s attitude toward nature. David Steven said in his book Romanticism "Blake Himself hardly ever copied nature in his art and neither did he seek to evoke natural surroundings in his poetry. Yet he was a keen observer at the world around him ,using aspects of nature as a kind of symbolic language to signify human and spiritual values"55.
Blake deals in those poems with one the elements in nature which is its changes. Nature, for Blake, is an object that provokes يثيرhis imagination. The seasons appear as men and sometimes as a tyrantطاغيه مستبد. So nature is never depicted as its in Blake`s poetry and he describes the natural objects that are depicted by the physical eyes and un humanized as "as the dirt upon my feet , no part of me" quo in The Romantic Period. This is clearly shown when he depicts Spring as a man with who has "dewy lock" and "angel eyes".
O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down
Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!
In "to summer", summer is asked to cast his golden rays upon the valleysعلى الوديان and tentsالخيام and he nicely brings joy to the land.
Rode o'er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy valleys, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our valleys love the Summer in his prideكبرياء.
In "To Autumn", the season seems as an embodiment of imaginationتجسيد للخيال. He is described as a wounded one who carries life and death at the same time. So life intertwines تتشابكwith death. He appears as an observerالمراقب who sees the lifted joyرفع الفرح من الصيف of summer and then he goes leaving behind him a yellowish land.
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
Winter in "To Winter "seems to be a tyrantطاغيه who cannot hear the sounds of the speaker. He is not violentعنيف او قاسي or scaryمخيف but stormy and harshجاف قاسي.
Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings To his strong bones, strides o'er the groaning rocks: He withers all in silence, and in his hand Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.
From the previous description of seasons , Blake responds to the changes of seasons and these changes greatly participate in the persona`s feeling. This is one of the most known characteristics of Blake`s treatment of nature. He said in his letter "Reverend Trusler": Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, & happiness is better than mirth. I feel that a man may be happy in this world. And I know that this world is a world of Imagination & Vision. I see everything I paint in this world, but everybody does not see alike. To the eyes of a miser, a Guinea is far more beautiful than the sun, & a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes. The tree which moves some to joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule & deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; & some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. quo in David Steven.
So Nature intervenesيتداخل with the human experience and feelings. For example, summer brings joy and happiness to the land and people. Our bards are fam'd who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.
On the other hand, winter kills the joy of the people and the cheerfulness of the world by undressing the trees from the leaves and the storms that disturb the sailors البحارهin the sea. Jonathan Robert says in his study William Blake`s Poetry :
Nature is a neutral material for Blake but it does function as a mirror that can reflect to us our humanity; Blake resists the worship of an external nature and the beauty , spirit, wonders that are found in nature all ultimately come from the human heart"70-71.
He takes his seat upon the cliffs, the mariner
Cries in vain. Poor little wretch! that deal’st
With storms, till heaven smiles, and the monster
Is driven yelling to his caves beneath Mount Hecla.
The images are intense, complex and visuals. They are intensely meditativeتأملي . This is shown in "To Spring" when the season is portrayedصورت as a lover to the "sick land".
Come o'er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumèd garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our lovesick land that mourns for thee. All in all, seasons are one of the elements and changes that happen in nature, William Blake does not treat nature as it seems to be. However, the natural objects endow with his experience , emotion and imagination and thus appear to be so meditative, creative and united. Also, Blake shows how nature and its changes affect the attitudes مواقفof people.
