Audiobook · read by volunteers
Milton: a Poem
William Blake (1757–1827)
Read by Brian Russell Graham, Ernst Schnell · 6 chapters · 2 h 25
About the book
William Blake's Milton is among the most ambitious and strangest poems in the English language. Written and illustrated between 1804 and 1810, it imagines the seventeenth-century poet John Milton returning from heaven to join Blake on earth, so that the living and the dead can meet and learn from each other. Along the way Milton also unites with his feminine aspect, Ololon, and the poem moves towards a vision of apocalyptic union in which inner and outer worlds, past and present are brought together. It is dense, visionary and full of striking images, and it contains the lines that later became the hymn known as Jerusalem. In six sections, read by Brian Russell Graham and Ernst Schnell over nearly two and a half hours, this recording gives the poem a voice. Be ready for a challenging and unforgettable listen.
Introduction
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, painter and engraver who lived most of his life in London. Largely overlooked by the public during his lifetime, he came to be recognised as one of the most original figures of the Romantic period, and his combination of verse and image remains unique. He made his illuminated books himself, engraving the text and designs and colouring the pages by hand.
Milton: a Poem is one of his major prophetic books. It was written and illustrated between 1804 and 1810 and takes as its hero the poet John Milton, whom Blake admired deeply and with whom he had a complicated relationship. In the poem Milton returns from heaven to unite with Blake and to explore the relationship between living writers and their predecessors. While on earth, Milton also unites with his feminine aspect, Ololon. The poem describes progress towards the apocalyptic union of the living and the dead, and of the internal and external worlds.
The text is not easy. Blake invented a personal mythology with its own figures and its own geography, and the poem draws on it constantly. Even so, it contains passages of great beauty and force, including the famous preface lines that were later set to music as the hymn Jerusalem. Many readers find that the poem makes more sense when heard, because its rhythms and repetitions carry a sense of urgency that can be lost on the page.
This LibriVox recording is read by Brian Russell Graham and Ernst Schnell. It runs for around two hours and twenty-five minutes and is divided into six files, the first of which is labelled Section 1. It will suit listeners who enjoy visionary poetry and are happy to let the language wash over them.
Public domain
William Blake died in 1827: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text