James Keery and Steve Clark begin with a discussion of the ‘song’ performed by ‘Tambourine Man’, which is often regarded as an invitation to Blakean ‘immortal moments’. If ‘the Ruins of Time build Mansions in Eternity’, in Dylan these have become ‘foggy ruins of time’, trading posts on a ‘windy beach’, where black captives may be ‘silhouetted by th…

With its exploration of the unconscious via the dreamscapes of artists such as Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy and Salvador Dali, and a rejection of the kind of excessive rationalism that had boxed European countries into the horrors of the First World War, it would seem that Surrealism and William Blake were a match made in heaven - or a marriage made in h…

Roger Whitson explores the ways in which Donald Ault and Bruno Latour can provide us with insights into Blake's experiments in visionary physics. This podcast explores the relations between science, art and aesthetics, not only the representation of science in art and photography, but also what the philosopher Latour calls the presentation or arran…

Blake scholar David Worrall discusses his latest book, William Blake's Visions, which explores the ways in which what Blake referred to as his visions can be attributed to verifiable perceptual phenomena including visual hallucinations (some probably derived from migraine aura), and auditory and visual hallucinations derived from several types of s…

Sharon Choe is joined by other Blake scholars - Hannah McAuliffe, Jodie Marley, Jake Elliott and Annise rogers - to discuss the range of talks and papers on William Blake at 2024 British Association of Romanticism Studies conference and consider some of the futures for Blake studies.Av Sharon Choe

William Blake has long been one of the many influences on the style and visuals of director Ridley Scott, most notably in his 2012 Alien: Prometheus, but also other films such as Blade Runner, Legend and Hannibal. In this podcast, Jason Whittaker explores how Ridley has used Blake, with particular emphasis on the Romantic artist's re-reading of Mil…

When most people think of William Blake, one of the first words they use is visionary. In this podcast, Jason Whittaker explores what that means in relation to Blake, and also how the Romantic artist gave a practical guide in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell on how to become a visionary poet.Av Jason Whittaker

William Blake has been claimed by a number of esoteric and even occult thinkers and practitioners. At the end of his life, he was as much known for his series of Visionary Heads - apparitions of spirits and historical figures - and this made him attractive to later spiritualists in the Victorian era. In this podcast, Jason Whittaker explores how Bl…

Often hailed as "the Scottish William Blake", Alasdair Gray's love of both the graphic arts and written word does indeed owe much to his admiration for the Romantic poet and engraver. In this talk, originally delivered as part of the Global Blake In Conversation series, Jason Whittaker explores some of the connections between Gray's mythic work and…

In this episode, Annise Rogers looks at the development of the figure of Samson in Blake's early collection, Poetical Sketches, exploring the connections to John Milton's Samson Agonistes, the violent and disturbing allusions to this hero in the Bible, and how he may have served as an early prototype of Orc and, later, the giant Albion.…

Critics have long noted the influence of William Blake on James Joyce's final novel, Finnegans Wake. What has been understudied, however, is the way Joyce extends Blake's subversive transformation of the epic tradition in his long poems, especially Jerusalem. While Ulysses is typically regarded as Joyce's major engagement with epic literature, Matt…

Billy Bragg in conversation with Jason Whittaker on the influence of Blake on his life, music and politics, looking also at questions of the hymn Jerusalem and Englishness. This is taken from a recording originally made for The Blake Society in 2022.

In this episode, Mike Goode considers the ways in which William Blake's famous invocation, "To see a world in a grain of sand" has become a viral meme jumping across different media formats, from poetry anthologies to popular TV shows and even computer viruses. This podcast is adapted from a talk originally made to the Global Blake conference in 20…

In this episode of Visionary: How William Blake changed the world, Jason Whittaker is joined by Sharon Choe, Annise Rogers, and Hannah McAuliffe to discuss one of the darkest works ever created by Blake - The First Book of Urizen. Pubished in 1794, this illuminated book is a satire on the the Book of Genesis that shows a horrific vision of material…

In this episode of Visionary: How William Blake changed the world, Jason Whittaker considers the ways in which Blake influenced the writer Angela Carter, in particular her science fiction satire, The Passion of New Eve, a retelling of Milton a Poem and a scathing critique of Blake's ideas of gender and sexuality.…

In this episode of Visionary: How William Blake changed the world, Jason Whittaker considers the ways in which the SF author J.G. Ballard rewrote Blake's Milton a Poem in his fantastical novel, The Unlimited Dream Company.

In this episode of Visionary: How William Blake Changed the World, Jason Whittaker, Sharon Choe and Annise Rogers review the exhibition William Blake's Universe on display in early 2024 at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, considering some of the highlights of the exhibition and how it seeks to link Blake to contemporary European artists.…

This episode of Visionary: How William Blake Changed the World, traces the history of his famous poem beginning with the lines "And did those feet", better known as the hymn Jerusalem. It begins with the circumstances of Blake's composition after his trial for sedition in Felpham, before exploring how the poem was set to music by Sir Hubert Parry d…

In their various ways, William Blake and J. R. R. Tolkien are two of the most important creators of imaginary worlds in literary history, having inspired generations of writers and artists to devise their own myths and legends. In this podcast, Jason Whittaker is joined by Sharon Choe, William Sherwood and Annise Rogers to discuss the ways in which…

In this podcast, Hannah McAuliffe, Jon Mee, and Sharon Choe (Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, University of York) discuss William Blake’s changing conception of the body. The podcast considers Blake’s visual and poetic depictions of the body and how he uses the body as a metaphor both in his work and for his work. The episode covers Blake's e…