William Blake's Relationship to Art Essay

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Hughes developed, through his poetry, an artistic movement and a fresh new view of Black culture. During his lifetime, especially in his youth, Blacks in America were not regularly treated as equals, and Black literature and art went rather unappreciated. Hughes' poems shed new light on the human condition, and, just as Blake had done a century and a half before him, asked readers to question their own closely-held views of society and one's place in it. Hughes, like Blake, was also ridiculed for his views, namely during the McCarthy era when he was called in to defend his viewpoints on society and culture.

Even though Hughes died having been recognized for his contributions to jazz and poetry, much like Blake he went underappreciated until the true meaning and context of his work. Both men contributed to the evolution of ideas and art both within their own lifetimes and afterwards. Hughes helped to define and develop the meter and tone of jazz music through his own poetry and writing. Blake helped to redefine the idea of religious freedom and artistic vision as well as contributing to the field of psychology in his won beliefs about the human mind, which were surprisingly similar to the Carl Jung method of psychological analysis. Historically, each man had to fight his own battles with the society that they lived within. They were both misunderstood by certain elements of society and many historians and artists feel as though they were ahead of their own times.

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Hughes and Blake both fought through their own versions of oppression. For Hughes it was the racial prejudices and cultural attitudes in 20th century America. For Blake, it was the religious oppression and strict social codes of 18th and 19th century England. Hughes gave jazz music the magnetism and cool that it is now associated with, as well as jazz's ability to bridge racial and social gaps through its descriptive and emotive tones and meter.

Both William Blake and Langston Hughes changed the face of art and society. As each man held true to his own beliefs and experiences relative to the societies surrounding them, they were both able to transport their readers through a different mode of social and cultural reality. They connected their own experiences and cultural beliefs to those around them and showed the rest of the world that human beings are, in one way or another, all part of the same struggle. Hughes helped to bridge the racial gaps of his time, eventually helping to cement the gains made after his death that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. Blake was able to unlock religious freedom and questioning through his own works, which were considered at the time to be both revolutionary and sometimes blasphemous. Both men were misunderstood in their own times, but both contributed more than many other artists and writers combined through the….....

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