Glorious Luminaries: Jerry Kelley and William Blake
What: Salon on Blake, presented by Jerry Kelley
When: Thursday, November 29, 7 pm
Where: WordSpace, 415 North Tyler St.
Admission: Members FREE Non-Members $10
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age.
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work.
Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Jakob Bohme and Emanuel Swedenborg. Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake’s work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar, William Rossetti, characterised Blake as a “glorious luminary,” and as “a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors”.
Jeremiah Kelley is an original member of WordSpace Board of Directors, published writer, and world traveler. From Harvard in the 60s to the Canadian Bush in the 70s, he now lives in Dallas with his wife, poet Patty Turner. His work has appeared in a number of literary journals, including Southwest Review. Jerry presented Blake as a multi-media performance at the WordSpace’s Texas Unbound Festival.
