America: A Prophecy (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Blake
- First Published: 1793
- Type of Work: Narrative
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Folkloric or magical people, Mythology or myths, Revolutionaries, Revolutions, American Revolution, Eighteenth century, Gods or goddesses, Prophecy or prophets, Romanticism, Angels
The Poem
America: A Prophecy is a narrative poem consisting of two parts, a 37-line section titled “Preludium” and a longer, 226-line section entitled “A Prophecy.” It is written in long, unrhymed lines that seem to have been inspired in their shape both by the epic meter of Homer and by the iambic pentameter of John Milton, but that conform to neither.
The poem takes the American Revolution as its inspiration, but, even though George Washington and other founding fathers appear in it, the poem is by no means an attempt to write a history of the event....
[The entire page is 1624 words long]
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