William Blake, The French Revolution

David Punter (University of Bristol)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1791

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction

Resources

The French Revolution, in the form in which we have it today, is merely the first book of a projected seven; whether Blake ever wrote the other six books we have no means of knowing, but at all events none of the poem was ever printed. The first book exists as a page-proof; it is possible that its proximity to current affairs made it too risky a venture for publication. At all events, the radical bookseller Joseph Johnson, who was responsible for the printing in 1791, never went through with the publication. It deals with early events of the Revolution, and does not hesitate to name names, although sometimes Blake's version of events is historically inaccurate; the main thrust of the fragment we have is to call attention to the …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

365 words

Citation: Punter, David. "The French Revolution". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 July 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=794, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Save this article