I was born in Maryland and spent my first thirty years living there, first in the Appalachian Mountains, then on the Eastern Shore, and later in suburban Washington. After a year in South Carolina, I moved to Georgia in 1977. I soon met another park ranger who worked in Florida. She was a wonderful woman who became my best friend. then my wife, and soon the mother of our three children. I spent over eleven years working in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia, and on the moss-draped sea islands nearby before moving to Atlanta.. In 2007, I retired from the National Park Service and a career dedicated to preserving and interpreting resources and themes in the cultural and natural history of the United States. It was a most rewarding experience. Today, I enjoy living in the rolling hills and woods of the Appalachian Piedmont east of Atlanta.
On this day 104 years ago the young composer, Igor Stravinsky, made music history in Paris. The event was the premiere of the ballet The Rite of Spring. Like his earlier work for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, itwas experimental and revolutionary. When combined with primitive choreography and a human sacrifice theme audiences were either dazzled or infuriated.
Photo from 1913 showing original costumes
In the early 1980's the original choreography was meticulously reconstructed after being lost for almost six decades. A few years after its completion it was presented by the Joffre Ballet. There is no better representation around of what that 1913 audience both heard and saw.Here is Part 1 - all three available on YouTube - of their performance.
Stravinsky's imaginative compositions went on to have a huge impact on music and the arts. At the forefront stands The Rite of Spring as one of the most widely recorded and performed symphonic works in the world. It remains as fresh in 2017 as it was in 1913. In that century its innovative energy in sound and rhythm has been re-patterned by the likes of Aaron Copeland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Philip Glass and many others.
Some say the most productive experiments often make the biggest messes. The genius and madman in Stravinsky would be pleased.
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo from First Nights: Five Musical Premieres by Thomas F. Kelly. Yale University Press, New Haven 2000.
According to the many versions of the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, this day could see your true true love bringing you pipers piping, ladies dancing, ladies spinning, badgers baiting, lads a-louping, lords a leapingor bulls a beating. Take your pick. Unfortunately, one item not found in any version is the gift of good fortune. Tradition tells us that gift should come in the form of a wish from a chimney sweep on New Year's Day. I like tradition but I certainly don't like the odds of readers and friends ever meeting a chimney sweep these days. To rectify the situation I'd like to introduce you to some sweeps from the imaginations of Wiener Werkstatte artists from the early 20th century.
And if three chimney sweeps, pretty girls, and a pig don't lift your spirits and leave you with high hopes in the new year this should do it.
Our music for New Year's Day is a Welsh carol set to the music of the British composer, Benjamin Britten. It explores the custom of levy-dew an ancient tradition of drawing water from a well and sprinkling it on townspeople as a means of cleansing or preparing them to face the new year.
Here we bring new water from the well so clear
To worship God, with this happy New Year
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine;
the seven bright gold wires and the bugles that do shine.
Sing reign of Fair Maid, with gold upon her toe,
Open you the West Door, and turn the Old Year go.
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, etc.
Sing reign of Fair Maid, with gold upon her chin,
Open you the East Door, and let the New Year in.
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, etc.
Llanllawer Holy Well, Pembrokeshire, UK Richard Law
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
window, boltonpriory.org.uk
well, commons.wikimedia.org, Llanllawer Holy Well and issuing stream, geograph.org.uk
Welcome to the seventh day of Christmas 2016, the last day of the year. That means it's also New Year's Eve. In much of Christian Europe this day is also known as Silvester or the Feast of Sylvester. Some of the more interesting iterations of celebrating the arrival of the new year occur in the Celtic nations of Scotland and Wales. The day is known as Hogmanay in Scotland. It's a nice blend of old and new elements including fireworks, bonfires, torchlight processions, partying, and the driving out of trolls. In Wales "New Year's Eve" translates to "Nos Galan," a day to pay off all debts, visit from house to house (first-footing) to sing carols, exchange gifts, drink a refreshing beverage or two, and enjoy mincemeat pie and rice pudding.
The great musical tradition of Wales has provided us with the melody for the most appropriate carol for the day, Deck the Halls. A wide variety of lyrics emerged over the last three centuries. The video below provides one example and a partial translation. The video concludes with the more familiar "Deck the Halls" lyrics written in 1862.
The Feast of the Holy Innocents is celebrated on the fourth day of Christmas.
Massacre of the Innocents Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1515
Music for the day is the "Coventry Carol" , a song from the mystery play, The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. Guild plays in Coventry, England, date to the 14th century but the documentation of their contents did not appear until the mid 1500's.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Lullay, thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his owne sight,
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
Massacre, National Museum, Warsaw
wikipedia.org
Today happens to be my birthday. The day always brings to mind the remarkable coincidence that I share this birthday with two of my favorite personalities from the world of the arts. Studying them in depth came later in my life and it's only been in the last decade that I realized September 29 was a big day we shared. It's a coincidence from somewhere in the stars beyond time. I don't want to attempt an explanation. And there's no delusion here, my friends, I will never approach their genius. Not sure I'd want to. I'll simply leave it at that and let this post unfold. If I had to choose two personal favorites among American artists, I would choose Walter Inglis Anderson and George Gershwin. I discovered Anderson on my own in the 1970s during the dedication of a National Park Service visitor center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The award-winning center featured architectural elements incorporating his motifs as well as interior displays of his nature paintings. Unfortunately, the center was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In regard to George Gershwin, I had an ear for him very early in life as my mom and dad enjoyed listening to his work on radio, records, and television.
Anderson and Gershwin were filled with creative genius. Both lives featured tragic loss. Anderson died (1965) in his early sixties recognized as a local artist and obscure introvert wracked by schizophrenia. National appreciation of his contribution to American art would come slowly and long after his death. Even today he's not well known among general populations beyond the South. Gershwin would die of a brain tumor at the age of 38 at the height of his career and known throughout the world.
Walter "Bob" Anderson, Self-Portrait, ca 1941
Walter Inglis Anderson, was born on September 29, 1903 in New Orleans. After training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the mid-1920s, he spent most of his career associated with Shearwater Pottery, a family enterprise founded in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Though deeply troubled with mental illness for much of his life, he produced thousands of vivid works of art - often called "abstract realism" - seeking to celebrate the unity of human existence with nature. I often describe his work as decorated illustrations that play freely with figure and ground and the positives and negatives of visual perception. His realizations of nature explode in the mind's eye. Observing Anderson is a meditative experience. Visit the Walter Inglis Anderson Museum of Art site to learn more about the life and work of this regional artist who only recently has taken on national significance.
Frogs, Bugs, Flowers Walter Anderson, ca 1945
George Gershwin was born in New York in 1898. He went on to become perhaps the most beloved American composer of the last century through his many compositions for the musical stage, the concert hall, and what has become known as the Great American Songbook. Gershwin's appeal comes in part from his colorful and lively incorporation of jazz motifs in all his music. He died in 1937 with what could only be called a spectacular career ahead of him. I often imagine what he could have brought to American music had he lived another forty years.
Gershwin in 1937
Here is some of Gershwin's genius performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn conducting and at the piano.
Sources
Walter "Bob" Anderson, Self-portrait, 1941. Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Frogs, Bugs, and Flowers, Walter Anderson, ca 1945. Repository: Roger H. Ogden Collection. Copyright: Roger H. Ogden.
George Gershwin 1937. Carl Van Vechten Collection, Library of Congress
Copyrighted illustrations used used under Section 107 (Fair Use) of the U.S. Copyright Act
Today we note the birthday of the American painter, Andrew Wyeth. He was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1917 and died there in 2009 after a lifetime of painting individuals and landscapes near his home and at his summer residence in Maine. He represented the second of three generations of famous painters in the Wyeth family. His father, N. C. Wyeth, was a renowned illustrator and painter. His son, Jamie, who turned 70 last week, continues painting literally in his father's footsteps in Pennsylvania and Maine.
I can best characterize his work as compelling, thought-provoking dreams on canvas, not quite real, not quite abstract. Here are three painting by Andrew Wyeth offering a comfortable contrast to the season of his birth. Readers can see the full range of his subjects at his authorized website.
Ice Pool 1969
Branch in the Snow 1980
Shredded Wheat 1982
For a biography and more information about Andrew Wyeth visit his wikipedia page here.
Today marks the sesquicentennial of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington. He was taken across the street to the home of William and Anna Peterson where died shortly after 7:00 a.m. the following morning. The theatre remained closed for over a century. It reopened in 1968 as a performance venue and national historic site that included the Peterson House. Today it is owned by the National Park Service and operated through a partnership agreement with the Ford's Theatre Society.
There will be much written and broadcast today about this tragic event but I think there is one program tonight at Ford's that will outweigh them the stories. It is Now He Belongs to the Ages: A Lincoln Commemoration, a Society centerpiece of their commemoration programming. All of the tickets are long gone for this event but thanks to the Society's efforts you can watch it streaming live online at 9:00 p.m. tonight. The program includes "readings of Lincoln’s words and stories, Civil War-era music, excerpts from Lincoln’s favorite theatre and operas, and more. The event seeks to remind us that we not only lost a president; we lost a man who treasured his family, his friends and his country with a love so strong it could hold the Union together."
Abraham Lincoln and son, Tad, February 5, 1865
Sources:
Ford Theatre photographs, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
Lincoln photograph, Alexander Gardner. Abraham Lincon with his son Tad (Thomas),February 5, 1865. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (140) Digital ID # cph-3a05994
In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought hews a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. William Blake was born into this environment on this day in 1757. Two centuries later he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism, and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world.
William Blake Thomas Phillips, English, 1807
Blake is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of England and its traditions.I hopes you will take time to examine every aspect of his extraordinary contribution to western civilization.
The following works by Blake will stimulate your interest and imagination:
I wonder if students still read this poem in school?
The Tyger William Blake, 1794
In the following illustration Blake depicts his character Urizen [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father [and often God the Son] as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of Blake's imagination.
The Ancient of Days William Blake, 1793
Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason (the dividers) brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the recline female nude) and a redeemed humanity
The Descent of Peace William Blake, ca. 1815
Here Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping (the dividers, once more) the world of humankind on the earth. Newton has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.
Newton William Blake, 1795
One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton A Poem. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as embodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.
Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:
I have learned much from the artist and philosopher, William Blake, in my struggle to balance life between intellect and emotion. So far it's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. If readers want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's updated version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.
If I had to choose two personal favorites among American artists, I would choose Walter Inglis Anderson and George Gershwin. I discovered Anderson on my own in the 1970s during the dedication of a National Park Service visitor center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The award-winning center featured architectural elements incorporating his motifs as well as interior displays of his nature paintings. Unfortunately, the center was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In regard to George Gershwin, I had an ear for him very early in life as my mom and dad enjoyed listening to his work on the radio, records, and television.
Today, September 29, marks the birthday of Anderson and Gershwin. Both were filled with creative genius. Both lives featured tragic loss. Anderson died (1965) in his early sixties recognized as a local artist and obscure introvert wracked by schizophrenia. National appreciation of his contribution to American art would come slowly and long after his death. Even today he's not well known among general populations beyond the South. On the other hand, Gershwin would die of a brain tumor at the age of 38 at the height of his career and known throughout the world.
Walter "Bob" Anderson, Self-Portrait, 1941
Walter Inglis Anderson, was born on September 29, 1903 in New Orleans. After training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the mid-1920s, he spent most of his career associated with Shearwater Pottery, a family enterprise founded in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Though deeply troubled with mental illness for much of his life, he produced thousands of vivid works of art - often called "abstract realism" - seeking to celebrate the unity of human existence with nature. I often describe his work as decorated illustrations that play freely with figure and ground and the positives and negatives of visual perception. His realizations of nature explode in the mind's eye. Observing Anderson is a meditative experience. Visit the Walter Inglis Anderson Museum of Art site to learn more about the life and work of this regional artist who only recently has taken on national significance.
Frogs,Bugs, Flowers Walter Anderson, ca.1945
Gershwin in 1937
George Gershwin was born in New York in 1898. He went on to become perhaps the most beloved American composer of the last century through his many compositions for the musical stage, the concert hall, and what has become known as the Great American Songbook. Gershwin's appeal comes in part from his colorful and lively incorporation of jazz motifs in all his music. He died in 1937 with what could only be called a spectacular career ahead of him. I often imagine what he could have brought to American music had he lived another forty years.
Studying these artists came much later in my life. In the last five years, that study led to a startling revelation: George, Walter and I were born on September 29. It's a coincidence from somewhere in the stars beyond time. I don't want to attempt an explanation. And there's no delusion here, my friends, I will never approach their genius. Not sure I'd want to. I'll simply leave it at that and enjoy their greatness knowing that we share a quiet and inconsequential commonality.
In closing, here is some of Gershwin's genius performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn conducting and at the piano.
Credits:
Walter "Bob" Anderson, Self-portrait, 1941. Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Frogs, Bugs, and Flowers, Walter Anderson, ca 1945. Repository: Roger H. Ogden Collection. Copyright: Roger H. Ogden. George Gershwin 1937. Carl Van Vechten Collection, Library of Congress Copyrighted illustrations used used under Section 107 (Fair Use) of the U.S. Copyright Act
Today marks the 205th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.
As visitors climb the marble steps, pass marble columns, and enter the chamber of the Lincoln Memorial, they are awestruck by Daniel Chester French’s enormous marble statue of Abraham Lincoln. To what part of the Georgia marble figure is the eye drawn first? Possibly, the serious look on Lincoln’s face will remind the visitor of the critical time of Civil War through which the president guided our nation. Maybe the reeds wrapped together in the arms of Lincoln’s chair will prompt the visitor to remember the way that Lincoln wanted to keep us bound together as one nation.
If you want to settle into an evening with Lincoln and his age, your choice of titles will number in the thousands and in a variety of media. I am inclined to recommend Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years. It is available as a one-volume abridgement or you may choose to tackle the original six-volume version. Not always accurate, not always "organized" as a traditional biography, Sandburg's work is really the story of Lincoln as American experience. It's romantic, rich, warm, organic, meandering, sometimes stormy, sometimes calm. I think the approach works well because the Lincoln story is in so many respects the American story. Also keep in mind that although well-known as a poet Sandburg soon was revered in the U.S. as a poet/writer for the people once the first volumes appeared . With that in mind, I believe Old Abe would have been proud to select a writer of popular history and culture as his official biographer.
Do take some time today to reflect on the life, time, and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. So much of what he was, as a nation, we are.
Credits: Quotation, Lincoln Memorial National Memorial webpage, National Park Service
Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) David Teniers, ca 1634
Today is the twelfth and final day of Christmas. This day is important among Christians who maintain liturgical traditions: it marks the end of the twelve day festival celebrating the birth of Christ, it is the eve of Epiphany, and it is the beginning of the carnival season ending with Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent. Those who are reluctant to bid Christmas farewell can take heart knowing that the tradition of Christmastide extends through February 2 or Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
For some the Twelve Days of Christmas will end with elaborate costumes, masks, feasting, music, dancing, and theater at Twelfth Night festivities where misrule is the only rule. They are indeed topsy-turvy events. Only the Surveyor of Ceremonies will appear without a mask. He will direct the company through a series of games and other activities beginning with the distribution of the Twelfth Cakes. When all the party goers have arrived, each will select a small festival cake or cake slice. Three of those cakes contain a hidden bean or token designating them as the king cake, queen cake and fool cake. The lucky holders of the royal cakes oversee the evening's activities before returning to their normal lives, most likely "below the salt."
These Twelfth Night traditions have been part of western culture for over a thousand years. Some traditions carry over the night into Epiphany, January 6. This is the case in New Orleans where Twelfth Night parties have been popular for centuries due in part to their role as opening events of the Carnival season.
Here are three examples of the medieval sights and sounds Twelfth Night revelers can expect:
This year the Fifth Day of Christmas coincides with the First Sunday after Christmas. The Gospel reading for this day - Matthew 2:13-23 - ends with the return of the Holy Family to Israel:
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
The Holy Family Salvadore Dali, 1959
Music for the day is a chorus from Ralph Vaughan Williams's Christmas cantata, "Hodie," written in 1954.
The blessed son of God only
In a crib full poor did lie;
With our poor flesh and our poor blood
Was clothed that everlasting good.
Kyrieleison.
The Lord Christ Jesu, God's son dear,
Was a guest and a stranger here;
Us for to bring from misery,
That we might live eternally.
Kyrieleison.
All this did he for us freely,
For to declare his great mercy;
All Christendom be merry therefore,
And give him thanks for evermore.
Kyrieleison.
The quote from the Gospel of Matthew is taken from the English Standard Version published in 2001.
On this day of Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The Innocents are the young male children of Bethlehem killed by King Herod in his attempt to eliminate the threat to his power from a newborn King of the Jews.
Massacre of the Innocents Peter Paul Rubens, ca 1611
Music for the day is the "Coventry Carol" , a song from the mystery play, The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. Guild plays in Coventry, England, date to the 14th century but the documentation of their contents did not appear until the mid 1500's. In the play, an angel appears to Joseph and tells him to take Mary and the Child to Egypt to escape Herod's slaughter. Immediately thereafter, three mothers from Bethlehem enter with their children and sing the carol.
On this day in 1870 the American modernist painter, John Marin (1870-1953), was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. Marin was trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, spent a few years searching for his muse in Europe, then returned to his home country where he exhibited his work at the famous Armory Show of 1913. A decade later he had attracted the attention of major collectors including Duncan Phillips whose world-renowned collection of modern art would form the core of the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, D.C.
I was introduced to Marin's work when David Grimsted took his entire history class to the Phillips Gallery for an exploration of American culture through the artist's eye. Not sure how much history was absorbed that day, but I left with an appreciation of John Marin's work still going strong after 43 years.
Brooklyn Bridge, 1913
Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street, 1933
Blue Sea, 1945
Credits: All images from the Phillips Collection website.
Today marks the birthday of two American artists, one recognized by almost anyone, the other an obscure introvert who remains almost unknown outside a small but growing circle of admirers. Both were filled with creative genius.
George Gershwin in 1937
George Gershwin was born in New York in 1898. He went on to become perhaps the most beloved American composer of the last century through his many compositions for the musical stage, the concert hall, and what has become known as the Great American Songbook. Gershwin's appeal comes in part from his colorful and lively incorporation of jazz motifs in all his music. He died in 1937 with what could only be called a wonderful career ahead of him. I often imagine what he could have brought to us had he lived.
Walter Inglis Anderson
The second artist, Walter Inglis Anderson, was born on September 29, 1903 in New Orleans. After training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the mid-1920s, he spent most of his career associated with Shearwater Pottery, a family enterprise founded in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Though deeply troubled with mental illness for much of his life, he produced thousands of vivid works of art - often called "abstract realism" - seeking to celebrate the unity of human existence with nature. I often describe his work as decorated illustrations that play freely with figure and ground and the positives and negatives of visual perception. His realizations of nature explode in the mind's eye. Observing Anderson is a meditative experience. Visit the Walter Inglis Anderson Museum of Art site to learn more about the life and work of this regional artist who only recently has taken on national significance.
If I had to choose two personal favorites among American artists, I would choose Gershwin and Anderson. My mom and dad enjoyed listening to Gershwin's music on the radio and records, and later on television. I discovered Anderson on my own in the 1970s during the dedication of a National Park Service visitor center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The award-winning center featured architectural elements incorporating his motifs as well as interior displays of his nature paintings. Unfortunately, the center was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Studying these artists came much later in my life and, in the last five years, that study led to a startling revelation: I share a birthday with them. George, Walter and OTR, a coincidence made somewhere in the stars beyond time. I don't want to attempt an explanation. And there's no delusion here; OTR will never approach their genius. Not sure I'd want to. I'll simply leave it at that and enjoy their greatness knowing that we share a quiet and inconsequential commonality.
Born on this day in 1883, Charles Sheeler became one of the founding members of the Modernist arts in the United States. He was trained as a draftsman as well as an artist and comfortable in the world of photography as well as paint on canvas. If we were to use one word to describe his work, it would be "precision."
A class visit to the Phillips Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in the early 1970s introduced me to the artist and I've had a growing appreciation of his his work since then. Below are some examples. I hope you enjoy them.
American Landscape 1930
Pertaining to Yachts and Yachting 1922
Yankee Clipper 1939
Golden Gate 1955
"I favor a picture which arrives at its destination without the evidence of a trying journey rather than one which shows the marks of battle."
In the blur of business to be finished yesterday, I completely overlooked the birthday of one of his favorite anarchists, William Blake. He was a rather good illustrator and writer as well, and top it off he wrote a bit about religion. That work on his interpretation of Christianity was so original that most of his contemporaries thought he was insane. Today, we have a more appreciative view of Blake as one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism.
Ancient of Days
One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton A Poem:
Readers may recognize the poem through this medium:
Blake is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of England and its traditions.I hopes you will take time to examine every aspect of his extraordinary contribution to western civilization.
